Half-Blood Emperor
by Dio Black
Summary: This is the story of a person who died. It's OK though, he got better. Through some kind of cosmic coincidence he wakes up in the body of an 11 year old Severus Snape. What would someone in his position, with knowledge of the future and what can be accomplished with magic do? Liberally abuse it and live like a king of course! Snape!Harem SI-OC as Snape NO SLASH.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N warnings: This story will contain a self insert OC. He will be a selfish person and will think nothing of doing immoral and manipulative acts to get what he wants. This is also your warning up front that it will be a Snape!Harem and Snape will be a little dark/evil. Only women will be in the harem. There will be adult situations and lemons in this story. This is also my first attempt at writing so I thank you for giving this a chance and for any positive feed back.**

 **Warning: This story will contain adult situations and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I actually think it's hilarious that I have to say I don't own anything from the Harry Potter franchise. I would think it was obvious that I don't. In fact I wish it would change so that it is just assumed that a person doesn't own something unless they specifically say otherwise.**

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 **Half-Blood Emperor**

 **Chapter 1**

Oh I died. Or at least I assume I just did. I was on my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water in the middle of the night when I felt a sharp, extreme pain just behind my eyes. Even worse than the worse headache I'd ever experienced, like an ice pick in its intensity. My vision blurred and the last thing I could make out was the floor getting awfully close.

But I didn't feel the impact. In fact I didn't feel anything except a tingling sensation like when a foot falls asleep, only all over, and then nothing. And I was acutely aware, almost disturbingly so, that I had just died.

Not to be confused with losing consciousness however, I'm not certain how I know the difference but I just do.

And I can't help but mentally curse up a storm as the realization sets in that not only did I just shuffle off my mortal coil right when my life was at the it's hedonistic peak, thanks in no small part to my hard work and effort to get to where I wanted to be; but I just died to what I'm certain is a brain aneurism.

The reason this is important, at least to me, is that I'd just died from one of my biggest fears. I was pissed because I knew that despite the low odds it was one of those things that could happen to anyone, at any time, for no reason.

'Oh well' I can't help but mentally sigh. At least it wasn't death by alligator. In hindsight this was much less traumatic.

Although now I was starting to worry. I wasn't a religious person in life and though I had no idea what, if any, afterlife awaited me. I certainly didn't think it would be an endless nothingness. Nothing to see, hear, touch, taste, or to feel. Nothing but me all alone with my thoughts.

I'm not sure how long I was like this either, with no obvious way to keep track of time other than counting the seconds. This sensory deprivation. I knew I wouldn't last long, I have no illusions about how tough I can be and how I'll crack eventually.

At this point I was honestly wishing for oblivion and to just cease existing if this is all there is. 'Of course I'd rather still be alive' my internal thoughts oh so helpfully pointed out. And no sooner had I thought that, I felt something.

I didn't have time to revel in the feeling however, because whatever it was felt like a hook behind where my 'naval' would be and I was moving. Suddenly the white nothingness that I had known was put into perspective as I was pulled away from its center and into a vast sea of black flecked with countless spheres of light similar to the one I'd just involuntarily, though not unwantedly, vacated.

There was no time for me to take it all in and try to contemplate what was happening. Because after the next thought of where I'd heard of a similar feeling being described before, I was suddenly jerked and moving faster than I could comprehend from my current perspective.

It would be quite some time before I thought of this place again. Busy as I was being reborn into someone else's body and taking over their life was a somewhat more immediate concern that took up much of my time and effort to ensure I came out on top.

An inhale, then a slow, drawn out exhale. Again and again this happened and I drank in the feeling of air filling my lungs.

Further listening to my breathing revealed a steady thumping. I could _feel_ my heartbeat. And to someone who knew he died, it was a wonderful feeling. And the more he focused on his heartbeat, and breathing, and being alive, he felt something else. Something separate that he knew wasn't there before inside him.

Shocked and startled from this mystery he opened his eyes and found a room that was entirely unfamiliar to him. What was shocking was that he _knew_ that he had not been inside this place before, but the more he looked about the more familiar it was becoming. He started having phantom memories of this room, the bed he was lying in was where he slept, the small desk in the corner was where he studied and did his homework and on and on the feelings came.

And while this was happening almost subconsciously, the man came upon another revelation that was immediately more important. He was not in his old body.

He knew the because the last time he checked he was a full grown, healthy adult male. Yet before even looking down at himself he could feel that his proportions were all wrong. He was smaller! No… His body was that of a child right now.

'Thankfully still male' he thought while breathing a heavy sigh of relief. Not that he had a problem with the female form. In fact he had an overly healthy appreciation for it. But he self-identified as a male for as long as he could remember and had no desire to change that. Or have it changed for him for that matter.

It was times like this he was glad for being a laid back and unflappable individual. "Make it look easy." Was the best advice he ever received in his early life.

And it was because of this aspect of his character that he wasn't freaking out and screaming as some people are want to do. Instead he was more than capable, and even comfortable, in going slow and figuring things out in a logical fashion.

Getting up from the bed and giving a cursory glance about the room looking for any clues that could help him figure out where he was, and more importantly, _who_ he is now.

However no sooner had the thought passed his mind, he was suddenly assaulted with more phantom feelings, with a few sporadic memories thrown into the mix this time.

A stern looking man and a dour women with a scowl, multiple times, through multiple places that are strangely familiar, most likely other rooms in this very house; kept referring to _him_ as Severus Snape.

With the sudden vertigo that accompanied the foreign memories fading his brain hiccupped.

'Severus Snape? Severus Snape as in the Harry Potter book series Severus Snape?' What are the odds of it being a different person after all. Severus is already an uncommon name and having died once, the thought of being reborn as a fictional character isn't out of the realm of possibility.

Though it is somewhat outside of my wheelhouse.

What I need to do is confirm that this is the case before I make any plans or do anything else. I realize that this different set of memories have been trickling in since I awoke and I'm starting to think that they must be imprinted in this bodies brain. Which makes sense when I think about it.

But then that begs the question about my own memories? Will they eventually fade away or will they stay with me?

Genuinely concerned for the first time since I woke up in a new body, I focus inwardly. All I can do is feel what makes me, me. And what makes Severus a separate identity. And as I concentrate on this I can feel an internal shifting. Like something perfectly slotting into place, partitioning a portion of this mind to permanently hold my memories and never letting them go, marking them as important.

It was a distinctly odd feeling. Something I've never done or felt before so I had no frame of reference other than a feeling of inherent rightness. Like this is how it's supposed to work and it worked perfectly the first time. And I just know I'm no longer in danger of losing either set of memories.

If I had to describe it, it was like trying a skill out for the first time like a sport or painting, and finding out that you're a master at it straight out of the gate. A natural talent.

Because of this I was able to calm down again. A small reprieve that allowed me to know that I can keep in control of the situation and I'll be alright.

'I wonder if that was Occlumency?' is the best guess he could come up with at the moment.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief I set about my original task of verifying my predicament and gathering information.

Moving over to the desk where the memories of Snape are telling me that I'll find all the proof I need, I sit in the chair and pull the top right hand drawer open and pulling out a long, thin box and place it carefully in front of me.

Without any further ceremony, and wanting to finally see it I open the box and see a long, thin wand.

Running his fingers along it he whispers, "Walnut and phoenix feather, thirteen inches, ridged." He quotes what Ollivander told him when he finally found and bonded to it.

Feeling the warmth from the wand connect to him and the magic inside of him he felt an exceptional thrill of power well up from within. He kept an iron will of control on it however to keep it from lighting up the room and filling it with sparks of light like he inherently knew it wanted to as it bonded to him even stronger than when Severus had originally fist picked it up.

"This particular wood combined with such a core will be uncommonly versatile and adaptable. Most wand woods will have a particular nature and will resist using spells that go against it. Walnut however, once bonded, will perform any task it's user desires, provided the user is of sufficient brilliance of course." Ollivander had told him in the shop.

That settles it. Magic was certainly a thing for him now and he could feel it singing in his veins. He didn't even need to cast any of the spells he was now more than eager to try out to know that this was real.

And wasn't that a happy thought. Everything he had experienced so far was to _real_ and _vivid_ to be a hallucination or an elaborate dream of a coma.

Especially considering how Severus Snape likely wouldn't have been his first choice if he had to pick being reincarnated as someone. Though upon further examination of his options, assuming he had to be reborn here in this particular fictional world, it's not the worst person he could be.

Of course knowing what I know of the future events, Severus didn't have a great life. From my own point of view he had an unhealthy interest in his childhood friend who didn't return his feelings and he never got over it. To him, he also made a few serious mistakes that cost him his freedom by consigning himself to not one, but two masters in what he saw as a pseudo slavery. One of them even branded him!

But as if that wasn't enough, if he recalled the cannon universe correctly, Severus died as he lived, completely alone.

And I can't except that. Not now. Not when I've become Severus Snape.

The old Severus is gone. Whatever happened to the two of us, whatever brought me to be here, erased him. All that's left of him is eleven years of memories of a, quite frankly, shitty childhood. And his physical body.

That's what I can feel when I examine my mind like I did before when I ensured my past life's memories were saved. There might be two sets of memories. But as for souls, it's just mine. I'm probably more aware of this because of my unique experience of being just a soul.

Pushing aside those morbid thoughts of things I can't change, and to be honest probably wouldn't even if I could, from my mind to concentrate on other things.

I need to plan. Plain and simple. Magic is real in this world and I not only have access to it. I have outsider knowledge that I can liberally abuse to set myself up. The skies the limit when I really start to think about it, and I'm still stuck thinking about the major things that I know of.

Immortality is within spitting distance. And not just one form or type! Nicholas Flamel had his philosopher's stone, and if I recall correctly I'm pretty sure that he holds the official record for longest living person at some ridiculous number that's at least past six hundred.

And as much as it's built up to be a mythological artefact that people talk up how great a pinnacle of alchemy it is, everyone seems to forget what's right in front of their faces.

Nicholas Flamel and his stone are almost always mentioned in the same sentence. Flamel's stone that he made with alchemy that can create an elixir of life, and turn lead into gold. If he could do it, why could no one else? It's man made clearly. And most certainly difficult, otherwise other alchemists would have stumbled upon making one on accident at some point.

Everyone makes a big deal out of trying to steal it from him. Both in the books notably, but also in various fan fictions.

Why has no one put in the work or even attempt to make one of their own recently when this guy made his over six hundred years ago?

What other things can alchemy accomplish? Something to look into as I start a mental list of things too useful to ignore.

The very next thing on the list is the other known form of immortality. A horcrux. Splitting the soul with a ritual and so long as you can keep that piece of yourself safe you can stick around even if someone destroys your body.

Speaking of, being able to regenerate is also a must to look into and placed very high on the list. What seems obvious to an outside observer such as myself, but might not have even been a thought for Voldemort is what options are available for healing and/or recreating a body.

The reason he even lost the war he started wasn't because his killing curse rebounded and destroyed his body. It's that it took him fourteen years to get a new one.

I can only imagine what would have happened if he had been able to get right back to it even a few months later and pick it back up where he left off. If only he had planned for that possibility, he might have been able to set up some sort of failsafe and not even need any help to get a body back.

But his mistake is my gain. It's already on the list of things to look into.

And while on the subject of other people's mistakes, looking at Snape's life from the books I already know quite a few personal pitfalls that I need to steer clear of right off the bat. The first one to start with also happens to be the easiest, especially for a womanizer like me, and that's to keep one Ms. Lily Evans at arm's length.

There's a lot of roads I can take just from dealing with her. For instance I'm not sure if I'll want to seduce her and keep her all to myself in the future, or if I'll simply let James Potter and her have a Chosen child to take care of Voldemort while I have fun accomplishing my own goals.

Tying in with that you can call me Severus McSwitzerland because I'm not about to join anyone's side in the war that's soon to kick off in full in the next few years.

I have no need to get involved knowing what I do. I know Voldemort's weaknesses are his horcruxes and what they are. And a general idea of where they will be in the future depending on how much I fuck with things. Regardless of whether or not I can even find them all, he can always be contained if push comes to shove.

And all that's not even taking into account simply reasoning with the man. Although that is the riskiest option, I can make myself invaluable while refusing to become an actual member of his Death Eaters.

Dumbledore will be even easier to deal with in comparison. Not only is he supposed to be incredibly forgiving, but by all accounts he's a toothless dragon. Far too afraid of losing ownership of his precious Deathly Hallow, the Elder Wand, cripples him, and makes it unlikely he will ever get involved in any kind of battle he might have the smallest chance of losing.

Of course I'll be keeping that little tidbit to myself. No need give up that advantage.

That does however bring up the issue of the Deathly Hallows. I instantly discard the idea of going after them for now.

In part because I already know where they are and where they will stay far into the future. And also, as confident as I am, and with a surprising repertoire of spells and curses that Severus already knows, I'm not even a first year yet.

I still have a week to go before getting on the Hogwarts express. And I am lacking the experience I already know is necessary to obtain even one of those mythical artefacts.

But on the note of experience I'm about to get _seven years_ of free access to an incredible place of learning. And using my knowledge of even just a few of the secrets of Hogwarts will allow me to advance by leaps and bounds in private study.

And of the things I need to become a master in there are plenty. Starting of course, with Occlumency. The art of protecting the mind from outside invasion and influence. Because I can't let a single secret slip for fear of it being the end of me.

I have no doubt that both Dumbledore and Voldemort would have the same reaction and frighteningly similar responses to my future knowledge. Both would Legilimens the ever loving shit out of my head without mercy, throwing in Veritaserum by the bucket load for good measure. Then depending on the person, Obliviation until I'm a vegetable, or a quick Avada Kedavra to the face. I couldn't fault them though. It's what I would do in a heartbeat.

While I'm on the subject of what I would do, my mind goes off on a tangent of… mind magic funny enough. Of all the different things it can do, and of all its various applications. Mind magic is pantshittingly terrifying when it suddenly becomes relevant to a person.

Obliviation. Something so standard to a wizard or witches everyday life that there is an entire squad of people who do nothing but erase memories working for the Ministry of Magic.

A spell that terrifying is used on a daily basis to keep our world hidden from the muggles. To just reach into someone's head and make it so something never happened to their perspective. And they aren't even aware that it happened!

The potential for abuse is staggering and one only needs to point a finger in the future Gilderoy Lockhart's direction. The flamboyant man was good at two things. Publicity, and the Obliviation spell. He took those two things and ran with them to a depressingly great effect by stealing other people's accomplishments and making them forget so he could take the credit.

And as far as applications go that was the least of a long list of ways I can think of to use that one spell. For the simple fact that if you can target what you erase from a person with pin point precision, you can completely change them into someone else.

The first example off the top of my head would be to turn a person from their friends and family by taking just a few of the memories of their most positive interactions with those people, and leaving only the bad.

And the insidious part is in its subtlety. Because they are still the same person, just with a different view. The Imperious curse may be dominant and impressive, as well as the first thing people think of for mind control, but it is a blunt hammer compared to a well-placed memory charm's scalpel.

Making a mental note to find any reliable memory charm that can plant false memories, I go through Severus's, _my_ , trunk (I need to remember that now) to read ahead for my first school year of witchcraft and wizardry. I really need to keep on my toes that this is me now. Although the list of people who know what I was like is small, the one person who would care is probably going to be on the ball. Luckily we're still children, and young children at that, so I can hopefully play off any discrepancies under the guise of either nerves for going to Hogwarts or just plain growing up.

Reviewing past interactions between Severus and Lily though I don't think I have anything to worry about. Severus and I were both cynical pragmatists with a sharp tongue so I'll be alright just being myself for the most part.

Right after getting proficient with defending my mind it will be time to start learning the offensive branch and invading the minds of others for fun and profit. Legilimency, the art of reading someone's mind, viewing their memories, and hearing their innermost thoughts is an advantage that has me literally salivating and on the verge of cackling like a mad man. That certainly wouldn't do for the moment however.

In the short time I've been here I've already learned that my new parents are terrible people. At least they aren't really abusive, just horribly neglectful. Severus hardly ever got new clothes, mostly just things from the local thrift store that were poorly matched.

Until mum took him shopping for his Hogwarts school supplies he didn't actually have much else to call his own. There are lots of books around the house thankfully. One of those things mum put her foot down on in one of my new parents many, many rows. Severus was only struck a few times in his life and mostly when he was being obstinate while his father was drunk. But for the most part they simply ignored him and didn't care what he got up to so long is it wasn't any trouble for them. Which, funny enough, he got over before I even got here.

And finally the next thing I'm looking forward to is potions. Bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death indeed! So many absolutely game changing, delicious, nutritious potions! Draught of the Living Death, Felix Felicis, Polyjuice, Veritaserum, Amortentia etc.

Severus Snape was the youngest Potions Master in a century and I have every intention of living up to that particular title.

The week until I finally set off for Hogwarts passed by quickly enough. I'd managed to devour all the first year books and even spent an afternoon with Lily and Petunia Evans. Lily was blissfully unaware her friend is now an adult in mind and while she is a rather cheerful girl, Petunia already has the makings of a thoroughly unpleasant individual. I'd always known she was jealous of her sister being lucky enough to be born with magic, though I can see that Lily inadvertently hasn't been doing much to curtail that by being self-absorbed into her own little world and is a little uncaring about bragging and showing off. Then again they are both children to me and I have the benefit of seeing how this will fester over the years until it culminates in Petunia keeping her nephew locked in a cupboard under the stairs.

I reaffirm just how grateful I am that I was reborn as Severus with the gift of foresight.

We arrived at King's Cross station relatively early and mum escorts me through the disguised portal to platform 9 and 3/4. I silently vow that my future glorious wizards tower will have a similar entrance because that is an impressive bit of ward work and illusion magic.

Mum and I walk a little ways into the sparsely populated platform before she bids me good bye and tells me she'll see me when schools out. We'd talked before in the week leading up to this and _we_ (mostly her and dad though I'm not complaining) decided it would be less of a strain on the family for me to spend Christmas's at school. That's right, that's Christmas's plural. At least my family is planning ahead despite that was my goal going into that discussion.

Sadly she doesn't even say she loves me as she walks away, and suddenly the way Snape acts in the books makes a lot of sense.

Thankfully, I am at least a well-adjusted megalomaniac.

I made my way onto the train with a quickly, and silently, cast feather light charm on my trunk to easily get it up the steps and found my way to the nearest empty compartment. A simple task considering how early we had arrived.

Shutting the door and closing the blinds I change into my Hogwarts uniform. It may be school clothes but they are the nicest and best fitting things I have.

Any purebloods I see before halfway through the trip would probably peg me instantly as not one of them based on my not showing off the latest acromantula silk robes, but I'm not concerned. They would figure that out anyway when I introduce myself as Snape instead of my mother's maiden name of Prince.

But either way, if Tom Riddle can climb over the broken and defeated bodies of his peers to rule Slytherin house then I can as well.

And I know that's where I'm going to end up. If nothing else than by virtue of any other house being all too easy to subjugate. I'd almost feel bad for how easy it would be to take over then.

I'm also largely unconcerned with the sorting hat poking around inside my head. Either it will be fooled with my false mind I've put up as a beginner and untrained attempt at an Occlumency defense, it will have to keep my secrets which makes sense because I don't think the founders would want to violate children's privacy. Or It will tell the headmaster everything, and Dumbledore will be forced to believe that the hat has finally cracked, or that the enchantments are starting to break down after all these centuries.

What adult would take the ramblings of a hat that says a first year has plans to become rich and famous, live like a king, and bed a harem of women? At worst if anyone believed it they would simply think it more likely I have an over active imagination. Besides, with the exception of making a horcrux, nothing I intend to do is actually illegal so far. Just incredibly immoral.

I sit down and go over my potions notes that I've come up with in the different ways ingredients can be prepared and how or if that will change their properties to pass the time.

Before I know it we are already moving and the door suddenly opens to reveal Lily Evans.

"Severus I've been looking all over for you!" She says as her face lights up in a smile and she rushes to give me a hug. It's actually rather nice considering I don't get any of those at home, but it will still be awhile before we're old enough for me to really appreciate it.

"I had faith you'd find me eventually." I tease back.

She playfully slaps my arm while giggling. "You prat, come on let's go make friends!" The tiny redheaded spitfire says.

I put on my best exaggerated face of disgust. "Friends?" I test the word on my tongue. "Is that anything like minions?" I question.

She gives a pleasant tinkling laughter at what she thought was a joke, brushing away a few tears before she gets her bearing and gabbing my hand to drag me along. "No silly I mean like me. But I'm glad you're finally starting to lighten up."

Leaving our compartment we stroll along down the hall, popping into random compartments that appear to have other first years to say hi and introduce ourselves.

We continue in this fashion and I do my best to put up with these understandably immature and overenthusiastic children until we come upon two children in particular that I knew I would have to see eventually.

Sirius Black and James Potter. Sirius has chin length wavy hair and steel blue eyes while James has short, messy black hair that truly does look like he just rolled out of bed and brown eyes framed by glasses.

Both are already dressed in their Hogwarts robes but probably the most surprising thing is that they are currently in a heated glaring match.

Lily looks between the both of them a few times before letting out a huff of frustration that neither of them seemed to notice before she finally loses her patience. "Are you two serious right now?"

And without missing a beat the one I know to be James Potter speaks up. "No, he is." He gestures to the other occupant in the compartment.

Sirius has the picture perfect expression of gobsmacked, before he snorts and tries to stifle his own laughter. He holds up an admirable three seconds before cracking into nearly hysterical laughter.

Lily's expression of confusion is adorable when she looks at me and asks, "What's wrong with them Severus?"

I shrug my shoulders and reply, "I dunno. Maybe the stress got to them." Before we both turn and leave the two future Marauders to bond. I may have laughed at the spontaneous joke but I'm sure I'll be sick of them before the year is out.

We spend the rest of the journey talking about all the things that we look forward to discovering at Hogwarts as we enjoy a few wizarding treats we got from the trolley on our way back.

The boat trip across the lake was more interesting than I thought it would be. I incorrectly assumed that a stunning view would be the only thing I would see. Instead I'm rather surprised to find that instead of a half giant named Hagrid being the gamekeeper that would lead us across, it's someone else by the name of Ogg.

It makes sense I suppose. On an intellectual level I knew that Hagrid wasn't always the gamekeeper but I'd thought he would have had the post by now. Oh well, I'm sure he'll turn up at some point in the near future. Perhaps he's an assistant and will take over in the next few years.

The other was the two girls who sat with Lily and I for the boat ride. We had only met Amelia Bones briefly on our whirlwind tour of the train, but we must have missed the other one.

Narcissa Black. Youngest of the Black daughters which I knew, but for some reason I thought she was supposed to be slightly older than us.

I give myself a quick mental note that some things may be slightly different from what I knew. The canon story was already out the window because of the things I will do after all, so I suppose things like this won't make much of difference. But I will need to be vigilant and keep an eye out so I don't get blindsided with a situation I can't handle.

Amelia and Lily hit it right off and are chatting away. I already look the part of the brooding silent type so thankfully my contributions can be minimal.

Narcissa however takes an instant disliking to all of us and I can't say I'm the least bit surprised. She tactfully makes her opinion on everyone sharing the boat with her clear that she would rather not associate with people like _us_. At least she has the good grace to not throw the word mudblood around like some of her peers no doubt will in the future.

Once we're all safely off the boats and introduced to Professor McGonagall who looks surprisingly younger than I expected. Perhaps mid-thirties if I had to guess at a glance. It was at that point that it really clicked that it will be another twenty years before the events of the first book takes place. She has average looks, with her black hair done up in a sever bun, stern features accentuated by her pursed lips, and dressed in tartan robes.

She proceeds to tell us things I'm sure I'm not the only one to already know. About how we are to be sorted into one of four houses, how we can earn points for our house, and how are house will be like are family.

And I really hope that because the war is still in the early stages of people going missing and the Ministry being unaware of the reason, that my future fellow Slytherin's will treat me with some respect. I'd so hate to have to use my own house mates as guinea pigs for practicing memory charms.

All of us first years are led into the great hall where we are told to wait for our names to be called, and in short order the Sorting Hat is singing away a song about happiness, friendship, and I'm pretty sure it mentioned ponies in there somewhere. I couldn't be bothered to pay attention.

The sorting goes smoothly as expected and my guesses are reasonably correct for the most part. Narcissa Black is sorted into Slytherin. Sirius Black immediately upsets the status quo by getting sorted into Gryffindor with a smile on his face. Amelia Bones gets into Hufflepuff where she sits beside her older brother Edgar whom she told us all about on the boat ride.

Lily takes a little longer than most, clearly having a debate with the hat extolling the virtues of Gryffindor house and why she should go there before it eventually concedes and sends her to the clapping table of lions.

I keep my features carefully blank but inside I'm positively crowing in delight. The hat does have to ultimately put a student in the house of their choice. I know Lily would have been much happier in Ravenclaw with her studious nature, or even Hufflepuff with her friendly personality. I hope she hadn't been drinking the Dumbledore Kool aid when I wasn't looking but it seems as though that might be the case.

The rest of what would become the Marauders ended up in the house of the Lions with the only notable part being Peter Pettigrew's sorting.

The small, slightly pudgy mouse of a boy clearly wasn't debating where he wanted to go. The hat just didn't seem to think he had any outstanding traits that would make a house an obvious choice. From what Severus knew of him he would end up a lazy traitor, no desire whatsoever to learn, about as un-cunning as can be, and a total coward to boot. The hat must have hoped that putting him in the house of the brave would help him develop a spine.

'Poor hat' I thought. There's only so much it can do. Thinking of Pettigrew though reminds me of the one impressive accomplishment he'll achieve and I make a mental note to look up becoming an Animagus.

It's finally my turn and I can see Lily waving excitedly at me from the Gryffindor table. I was sure I told her at some point that I was a safe bet for Slytherin or Ravenclaw, when I belatedly remember that friends are supposed to show each other support so I give her a tight smile and a small nod of acknowledgement that causes her face to light up.

I have to shake my head internally at how impressionable children are as I sit down and the hat is placed on my head where it falls down far enough to block my vision of the students and tables of the great hall.

"Oh no." I hear a gruff voice filled with despair echo inside of my head.

"Ah so the false mind didn't fool you for a moment did it?" I mentally respond back.

"Yes, yes and you don't need to be so loud with your thoughts, I can hear you quite well thank you. But what?... How?... I don't even know where to begin with you!" It huffs in frustration.

I spend a moment thinking about it, "How about you start with whatever intrigues you most? Or start with what you might know of my situation?" I ask.

"Well I can already tell you I've never heard nor seen anyone in your particular situation. And I can go ahead and put all your worries at ease. I can't tell anyone anything, it's all completely confidential. In fact it's been so long since I've had a conversation with the headmaster I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm not actually an intelligent artefact, just a tool to put children in houses so he doesn't have to take the time and interview all of them himself." The hat says before devolving into a fit of invectives towards Dumbledore that I'm sure he's barrowing from my mind to be more creative.

It eventually subsides before he continues, "Well I can tell you I think you're on the right track with the things you want to accomplish and your ambitions. If what you know of the future is really true and comes to pass it's not like you can very well make things worse after all."

"Ah thank you for that." I respond, unsure how to take that but pressing forward. "Do you have any advice for me that could be helpful or if I'm missing something obvious?"

"Well I have a few id- hold on." He breaks off mentally before I can suddenly hear his voice outside my head and out loud.

"Can I help you Minerva?" The hat asks in a scathing tone. I'm surprised, I guess it's been longer than I thought if McGonagall was about to take the hat off wondering if something was wrong. It's only now that I can hear the low murmur of the crowd expressing confusion and speculating on what's taking so long.

I can her how startled she must have been because it sounds like she jumped a little at being preempted.

"I-I was just wondering what's taking so long, or if something was… wrong?" She trails off weakly, not have expected to defend her actions to a talking hat.

"Everything is fine! Better than fine actually, I'm having an actual conversation with an interesting individual for the first time in years." Said the hat.

"Be that as it may you are supposed to sort the students. There are still more to go and we are all getting hungry." And I can practically see the disapproving frown on her face as if she's scolding any other misbehaving student, instead of a thousand year old sentient artefact.

"Well excuse me then!" And I can feel him coming back to resume our mental conversation. "Right then, let's make this quick. Keep up with Occlumency, Albus won't bother with any young student unless they are an heir or they stand out academically so be sure you don't do anything major until you can catch a subtle probe. He likely won't push it after that.

Also since I can tell you won't be swayed from your goals, you should focus on rituals then. Many of them will suit your purposes and there's a surprising amount that has been lost to time but not to Hogwarts and even Riddle doesn't know all of them. Good luck becoming the king of the snakes in- SLYTHERIN!" The hat finishes the last word out loud for the hall to hear.

There is a surprising amount of applause coming from the hall, the Slytherin table included. At first I'm sure it's because they are happy to get on with the sorting ceremony and being that much closer to the feast, but I notice more than a few curious eyes from my new house table sizing me up.

No doubt wondering what's so special about the new firstie.

I end up sitting next to Narcissa of all people and completely ignore the heated glare she levels my way. She's far too polite to say whatever is on her mind, no doubt derogatory and insulting. But I'm having entirely too much fun ignoring her and tweaking her nose about it.

Taking my time to carefully dish up my plate after the last student gets sorted and the food appears, my thoughts turned to the hat's suggestions. It's nice to know that I won't have to worry about anyone stopping me before I've snowballed my momentum, so long as I can keep just under the radar for long enough.

And rituals? Having initially discounted them and put them on the shelf for later consideration because from what I recall of the books, Voldemort had used so many that he wasn't even recognizable as Tom Riddle anymore.

I had no desire to disfigure myself, in fact quite the opposite. One of my early goals is to find some kind of potion to permanently increase how attractive I am to people. Not only to make me irresistible to the opposite sex, but to boost my natural charisma and charm. Everything in life will be a lot easier if everyone I come across thinks of me as their best friend after all.

But the hat raised a valid point when one really thinks about it.

One of the darkest rituals I know about is the creation of a horcrux. But Tom made one when he was still a student in Hogwarts and managed to complete his last few years just fine with no one the wiser. He even made Head Boy from what I recall.

He still had plenty of charisma by all accounts, and if that's the case then it must have been something else he had done after Hogwarts. Something he must have held off doing until after he was turned down for the position of Defense Professor.

Either way there's plenty of time to research everything I need to know. What empowering rituals will stack with others for a cumulative effect. What requirements do I need to fulfill. Any potential side effects.

I should probably see about acquiring a time turner at this rate. There clearly aren't enough hours in the day. Maybe there will be information on making my own?

The feast was delicious and I enjoyed my shepherd's pie, green beans, and boiled potatoes. I had to pass on the pumpkin juice as it tastes like actual pumpkin. I honestly don't know what I was expecting. What I do know is that, while I normally don't have a problem with pumpkin pie, I do have a problem with drinking it.

Luckily there are other options at the table such as milk, tea, and water. I take an unhealthy delight in being the picture perfect of pureblood politeness when I ask Narcissa to pass me the pitcher of water, minding all my p's and q's. And she has to acquiesce because of her upbringing.

I'm not sure but I think I hear her teeth grinding. She seems to be in physical pain to have to be polite to what she sees as a lowly halfblood. Though now that I think about it I'm not sure anyone's blood status came up in conversation on the boat ride. Perhaps she just made an assumption because none of us where in her circle of friends.

After the feast Headmaster Dumbledore stands to give us a few announcements. Introducing this year's new Defense Professor who has no idea they won't be here next year. Apparently everyone still thinks it's just a coincidence and not a curse on the position.

Dumbledore continues on to tell us a list of banned items can be found on the office door to Argus Filch, as if any of us would actually bother. And he wraps it up with a final warning not to go into the Forbidden Forest.

After having us sing the school song us first years are instructed to wait for our prefects to show us to our common room. The reason we are the last to leave is made obvious as not only the Gryffindor table, but the Hufflepuff as well, stampede in a mad dash to get to their respective dorms from the word go.

After the initial rush of half the students, Ravenclaw table and our own calmly and collectedly make our way out at a leisurely pace.

Going steadily further down in the dungeons the prefects point out landmarks to us along the way such as suits of armor and paintings. The reasoning becomes clear as we stop in front of a perfectly blank stone wall with no distinguishing features.

Turning around the male fifth year student addresses us. "This wall behind me is the hidden entrance to our common room. Try to remember where it is, don't tell anyone outside of our house where the entrance is. And make sure you check the posting board every day before leaving to make sure you have the latest password. We change it every week, but sometimes randomly as well. If you forget the password your stuck out here until either someone else comes along, or someone leaves."

The woman who had been silent so far finally speaks up in a severe tone. "If you happen to be locked out after curfew you'll have to suck it up and get professor Slughorn, our head of house. His office is behind the portrait of the witch playing a harp that we passed on the way here." She says, pointing in the general direction before continuing.

"If that happens you'll likely be punished with detention, but that's better than getting caught by other prefects or, Merlin forbid, the caretaker." She shudders in disgust and I can't help wonder if it's because of his unwashed appearance, caustic demeanor, or just because he's a squib.

They turn around and give the password, pureblood, and shepherded all of us first years inside after the stones moved apart, much like the entrance to Diagon Alley.

Once inside I can't help but let out a small smile at how impressive it really is. There are huge, green tinted windows that show the room we are in is submerged at looks directly into the depths of the black lake.

I'm not the only one dazzled by the display as there are gasps of ooh's and ahh's from almost all of us first years.

There is a smug knowing look from the prefects as the woman speaks up again. "That's right, our common room has the best view in the castle. Occasionally you might even see the giant squid swim by, or other more… interesting creatures." She finishes off.

"The girls dorms are to your left and the boys dorms are to your right. Boys aren't allowed in the girls dorms and they are heavily warded to prevent entry. No matter how far you manage to get in there is a load alarm that will sound off because of the attempt so don't try it.

All of you have your own individual room for privacy, you'll know yours by the plaque with your name on it, and a communal bathroom for your year to share. The rooms are sparsely furnished with just a bed and a desk. Your meant to learn how to use magic here and the proof will be in how elaborate and decorated you can make your room." The male prefect took up explaining for us.

The woman begins talking again. "The two of us will meet you here in the common room promptly at seven in the morning to escort you to breakfast and your first classes of the day. We expect you to be up, presentable, and ready by then. We have our reputation of this noble house to uphold after all. Good night." She finishes in a clear dismissal for us to go to bed.

I silently make my way with the other first year boys and find my room without issue. And it is just as advertised of being medium size, a simple bed, and a desk pushed up against the wall with a standard wooden chair and no window. The only light source being a ceiling lamp that can turn off or on by voice command.

Checking to make sure my trunk at the foot of the bed has been untampered with, not that there was much to bother with in their at the moment besides the standard set of school supplies.

I pull out a fresh set of the Hogwarts uniform and lay it out on top of my trunk for tomorrow. Pulling off my clothes and folding them neatly and setting them on the desk I wonder what the protocol is for the house elves to clean them.

With that thought I slip into bed thinking about how one might go about obtaining a house elf. Dead useful they are, but something I won't worry about it until I go home for the summer.

I can't wait for classes tomorrow. Or more accurately to go exploring for certain things after classes are over.

* * *

 **A/N: I want to personally thank you all for taking the time to read my first attempt at writing fan fiction. I've been a long time reader and I felt it was finally time for me to try my hand at writing. A few more things I would like to say is that this is inspired by various other self-insert stories that I'd read and enjoyed. I'll admit, I'm not actually a fan of Snape. In fact I would sooner read a bashing fic than one that has Severus in a father/mentor/love interest role. And that's why I went with making him a self insert OC. Also I don't think I've ever seen one where Snape is in the main character role and will have a harem of women.**

 **Any way, I'm writing this story because like many others in my position, I've read so much that it seems like there are no more stories that I'm interested in reading that I haven't already. Also I am now far more aware of what a plot bunny that won't leave you alone feels like. I have a new respect for all writers now, especially when it comes to writing a scene or section you just aren't interested in, but have to include to advance the plot.**

 **Once again, thank all, from the bottom of my heart for making it this far and I hope to see you again for the next chapter. Any reviews/favorites/follows are appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the support you've shown me! At the time I'm writing this it hasn't even been a full 24 hours since I initially published the first chapter of my very first story, and I'm blown away at the positive response! I haven't even gotten to 200 views before I got 12 reviews, 13 favorites, and an incredible 26 followers! This is the reason I'm working so hard to get this next chapter out to you as soon as I can.**

 **Warning: This story will contain adult situations and language.**

 **Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit fan based parody. All characters owned by- wait what? What do you mean Team Four Star trademarked their disclaimer? Well shit… Oh well I'm sure everyone knows the drill by now anyway. Please enjoy!**

* * *

 **Half-Blood Emperor**

 **Chapter 2**

Severus slowly woke up, nestled comfortably in the bed he was assigned for the Slytherin dormitories. In his very own room. That he didn't have to share with anyone, he reminded himself, and couldn't help the wide smile from ear to ear at that thought.

Making the conscious choice to get on with the day wasn't a difficult decision however. He was more than eager to get started with both his formal education in magic, and his extracurricular activities. Mostly because he was excited; but also because he knew that for all of his grand ideas he didn't know how long each individual goal would take him.

Seven years seems like a long time but it wouldn't do to get too overconfident. He'd hate it if all of his ambitions grinded to a screeching halt if it turns out it will take years to master vital skills such as Occlumency, before he can even think of doing anything else. In the end though he _knew_ he had to lay a rock solid foundation for himself before progressing to far, too fast and leaving himself exposed. "Success follows preparation in equal measure." Were words to live by.

But there was nothing for it. He would just have to look up what he was interested in before he could formulate an idea of what is feasible and what isn't at this early stage. Then the raven haired young man would knuckle down and plow through it. Besides, once he knew what everything would take he can work on a schedule to multitask. Some of the useful potions such as Polyjuice could take upwards of a month to brew; so he could use the downtime in between the steps to practice other things.

Sitting up and getting out of bed while stretching out his back and limbs to help wake up fully. He grabs the clothes set aside the night before, idly noticing that yesterday's clothes left on the desk where gone, he heads off to shower before getting the day started.

Meeting up with all the other first years in the common room at seven on the dot, Severus couldn't help but finally notice his other year mates for the first time.

There were only two other boys and four girls in total, including Narcissa. The platinum blonde hair, electric blue eyed girl was much more pleasant to be around this morning. Instead of a sneering visage like she smelled something foul constantly the other night, she looks cold and aloof now in an effort to ignore everyone else. Very impressive for a child her age. And it seems to Severus that it's now more likely she's just a stuck up brat who dislikes everyone equally interestingly enough.

But the most startling thing is how nice the other first years are being to him right now. It makes sense in a way after thinking about it. The war hasn't even really gotten started yet, and so with no line in the sand, and without propaganda being forced down their throats, they have no real reason to be blatantly antagonistic to anyone who is not of pure blood.

The prefects from the night before guide them through the same hallways and corridors as last night so as not to confuse them. They explained as much, that they were taking the most direct path to and from the great hall in an effort to ensure all of them knew the way. They could find their own way around other passages on their own time, after they memorized the main walkways.

Satisfied that they all arrived at once and in one piece, the prefects left them to sit and eat at their end of the table, promising to return once it was time for their first classes to escort them.

Severus decided to make idle small talk with his fellow students while helping himself to a simple plate of eggs, bacon, hash browns and some delightful grilled tomatoes. There was no reason not to be friendly after all.

And so he made good use of the natural skills he honed over years in his past life, to build a rapport with his year mates. Asking them unobtrusive questions about themselves, getting them talking about their dreams and passions. And in no time at all Severus had become almost everyone's friend just by asking the right questions to elicit the proper feelings to cultivate happiness and trust.

The funny part, to Severus at least, was that while they would all go on to claim that he was their friend, when asked if they knew anything about him; they would have to embarrassingly admit that all they really knew about him is that he was a great listener and seemed to like the same things they did.

Meanwhile Narcissa was sitting with them, taking it all in as her eyebrows rose ever steadily to her hairline until it seemed like they might get stuck there. She had the proper upbringing to keep her mouth from gaping for too long before she caught herself and snapped it shut.

But the disbelief was still there, plain as day on her face.

And despite all of this happening right in front of her own eyes, she didn't understand _how_ it was happening. How he effortlessly started up a conversation with total strangers. How, to her perspective, he completely and without meaning too, bumbled into the leadership role as he was the one guiding the conversation, doing his best to include everyone.

Deciding she'd had enough of this nonsense she finally spoke up and subtly tried to cut him down to size with her own seemingly innocuous words.

"You didn't seem to be this friendly last night. What changed Snape?" She smoothly interjected in a lull of conversation.

Snape knew immediately what she was trying to do and already had the perfect response. Though to be fair it was something he had ready to use anyway when there was an opportunity to use it. "Well that's true I suppose. I don't know about the rest of us here but I was quite nervous." The black haired boy nodded to his fellow first years at the table.

"It was my first time being around so many people after all and it didn't help that it took me so long to get sorted, what with being the subject of everyone's attention last night. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who to feel that way. Others had to have felt the same way. But we all found ourselves in a house in the end didn't we?" He finished up.

Normally admitting weakness is a huge no-no in Slytherin house. But it was such a sound explanation. And it certainly didn't hurt that when he spoke, he included how everyone else might have felt, subliminally reminding them of their own nervousness when they had their own sorting and had all eyes on them. This had an added bonus of enforcing an 'us vs. them' mentality by having a shared experience.

Suitably chastised with a faint scowl at his answer, she went back to sipping her tea having finished her own modest breakfast as conversation resumed at the table, and the hall continued to steadily fill up with students from all houses.

Things didn't continue in this fashion for long however, as there was a sudden exclamation of "Cissy!" Putting a halt to everyone on our side of the table as an older girl with a flowing mane of curly black hair appeared and snatched the tiny form of Narcissa right out of her seat and twirled her around in a tight hug.

"Bella!" Narcissa bit out "Set me down this instant." She hissed.

Completely unfazed, Bellatrix sets her back down in her seat and chirps "There you go darling sister." As though she was doing her a favor.

The Blonde haired girl who was just treated like a favorite rag doll was currently blushing up a storm that didn't seem to want to go away any time soon.

While this was going on, Severus's mind was whirling a mile a minute at this overlooked opportunity. Bellatrix Lestrange, or Bellatrix Black at the moment, would go on to become Voldemort's most feared lieutenant. His right hand woman. An enforcer of unparalleled dueling ability with a devotion to her future master firmly in the 'fanatical zealot' scale of loyalty.

'Ex-future master' the dark haired boy mentally corrected. This vision of deadly beauty is wasted on anyone not named Severus Snape now.

Taking a moment to really drink in her appearance. Long, slender, porcelain legs lead up to the uniforms tragically knee length skirt. The uniform goes on to further anger Severus as the sweater vest and blouse hide her curves and all he can tell besides a slim stomach and grabbable hips, are that she's slightly flat chested. Or at least not as busty based on some of the more well-endowed women he had seen in the school uniform so far. She's still a young teenager though so there is still some growing to do.

But all of that pales in comparison to her beautiful, angelic face. Defined cheek bones give her an aristocratic air. Full pouty lips curved up into a smile. And _stunning_ violet colored eyes full of mischief and a wicked intelligence that will one day be capable of great violence.

After the two sisters of Black greet each other, Bellatrix demands to be introduced to her little sister's new friends. Her words of course.

Narcissa would no doubt prefer to think of us as potential allies. Acquaintances at best really.

In the end she soldiers on and gives her older sister all of our names and begrudgingly finishes with Severus.

So lost in examining his future lieutenant/lover he only just realized that he'd been caught staring by the way she turns her violet, piercing, eyes his way with an arrogant smirk on her lips. She cocks her hip to one side and puts a hand on it before addressing our dark haired protagonist.

"Does the ickle little firstie see something he likes?" She cooed, thinking he'll turn into a blushing, stuttering mess that will trip all over himself to apologize.

Meanwhile Narcissa turns a smug grin towards him that says 'That's what you get for not knowing your place'.

But Severus wasn't born yesterday. He wasn't even born eleven years ago either with his reincarnated memories, but that was neither here nor there. He just hoped that what he was about to do was universal everywhere, and even if it wasn't everyone would still get a good laugh out of it and he wouldn't lose too much face.

With a dead serious expression on his face he gives her a slow, deliberate, once over before responding. "Yes I do actually."

And before the shock could fully settle in he continues by putting on his best, over exaggerated leer, "Now could you please not interrupt? I'm not done ogling you yet."

To everyone around who heard what this precocious little first year said, silence fell. And then silence promptly broke it's ankle.

Narcissa couldn't keep her jaw off the table for all the magic in the world at the audacity that was just displayed.

But Bellatrix recovered more quickly… Sort of.

Her stunned visage cracks fist with twitching lips. Then a very unladylike snort. Followed by barely restrained throaty chuckles.

It was at this point that Narcissa finally managed to pick her jaw up only to immediately adopt a look of dawning horror and disbelief. She'd lived with her sister most of her life and she recognized the signs of what was coming. And the worst part was that it was _this little shit_ who is the cause her sister about to lose it.

Bella laughed. A wonderful, heaving, full belly, funniest thing that ever was and will be laugh.

Now people all throughout the hall were openly staring at the display and somewhat lost without the context for the Slytherin beauty's peals of laughter.

Narcissa was especially seething in light of this turn around. 'This _stupid_ boy is making my sister laugh. And… And he did it by _leering_ at her body like some kind of pervert!' She internally ranted.

'Why isn't he looking at _me_ like that? He should only look at _me_!' A traitorous part of her mind whispered.

After various false starts where poor Bellatrix seems to finally get herself under control only to lose it again just by looking at Severus, she finally calms down, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"This one I like!" She giggles out before grasping her younger sisters shoulders and leaning down while not taking her eyes off Severus yet. "We've got a keeper here Cissy. Don't let him get away."

It was Narcissa's turn to take an unladylike action by bury her face in her hands and groaning. It was all she could do to keep the scream of frustration from getting out.

The entire situation was finally broken up when Professor Slughorn interjected himself to hand out schedules.

"Good morning everyone. And how are you doing Ms. Black? Are you alright?" He said after having enjoyed one of his favorite students having a good time and interacting with his new first years.

"Oh I'm fine professor. Just saying hello to my sister and her friends. Ta ta everyone." She says as she starts to saunter off, but when her eyes met Snape's he throws her a wink and a smile that causes her to burst into a renewed fit of giggles.

"Absolutely splendid. Well now everyone I have your time tables here." The slightly rotund man with greying hair says while he starts passing them to each individual.

"My name is Professor Slughorn. I'm your potions professor and also your head of house. Please feel free to talk to a prefect or even come by my office if you have any questions or just want to talk. My door is always open." He finishes with a kind smile and moves on down the table to continue passing out schedules.

All of the Slytherin first years had the same schedule which makes sense as there won't be any variance until third year where they will pick electives.

The standard seven classes were as expected. Charms, transfiguration, herbology, defense against the dark arts, potions, history of magic, and astronomy. The last one taking place at a time he would literally rather do anything, preferably sleeping.

Only the male prefect came by to take us to our first class of the day. Taking the most direct path again, they made their way to charms class where they got their first look at the diminutive head of house for Ravenclaw, Filius Flitwick.

Severus could admit that it was slightly boring, not because of the subject matter of course. But because this class, at least, would be all theory for the first month. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except he'd gone through the whole course book.

He truly did find the theory fascinating. Or more accurately what isn't said in the first year book. The body he currently inhabited had already been through most of the magical library at home that his mother had accumulated over the years. Thankfully so long as he treated the books with care and didn't try to take whichever one his mum was reading at the time, she didn't pay any attention to him.

Unfortunately the old Severus had a one track mind and obsessed over the dark arts, even at this young age. And that's not admonishing him his choice. It just would have been nice to have a more well-rounded understanding of the many different aspects of magic.

It was impressive that the sheer number of curses he knew could put most seventh years to shame. But to the new Severus dead is dead, and defeated is defeated. To him it seemed wasteful to know a hundred different cutting curses when he's the master of none at the moment.

Snape spent the time wondering about wands and wandless magic. Whether a spell truly ever needs to be verbalized or if that's merely a mnemonic device to help children learn? Is it really better to learn the proper way to swish and flick instead of skipping straight to point casting?

Probably yes on that last one. He could imagine a lot of children getting frustrated and giving up if there is a lack of progress. And everything he's seen so far suggests that the more you practice something the easier it becomes. So progressing along that path seems the right move after training an individual's magic to perform a certain way.

No one who starts out exercising skips straight to onehanded, handstand pushups after having never exercised before in their life.

More relevant to Severus however, was the ability of wandless magic and what's possible with it. He knows he can't just do everything without a wand no matter how much practice he puts in.

A wand is a tool after all. Like a gun, a knife, or a hammer. A person can't very well perform the same tasks these tools are meant for with their bare hands. But we made these tools with our bare hands in order to make these tasks easier.

By that reasoning he couldn't help but wonder if there is a better tool for magic?

But on the other end of that scale the list of tasks that _can_ be accomplished with nothing but a body and ingenuity is very impressive.

People were making shelters, and foraging for food before they learned to hunt. People were killing each other with their bare hands before they learned they could throw a rock or stab someone with a sharpened stick.

It evolved from there of course with putting a sharpened bit of metal on the end of the stick to make a spear. And then shrinking down the spear and building a tool that virtually throws it for you in the form of a bow. Eventually people got even more efficient with crossbows. And then along comes gunpowder, histories game changer.

Severus couldn't help thinking about how effective a gun would be against wizards and witches. They may like to think that a shield charm would stop a bullet but he's almost positive there hasn't been any real testing. Besides even if they could block a bullet they still only have human reactions and no one's faster than a bullet. The poor bastards probably still think it takes a minute and a half to reload between each shot.

Then there was enchanting that might make a gun even better, he daydreamed. Bullets that homed in on someone was the best improvement he could think of off the top of his head. But He couldn't even fathom how difficult or complicated that would be.

Coming back from the tangent to refocus on something he could do now, wandless magic.

As always it was best to keep it simple to start with. He'd make time to practice the levitation charm without a wand every day and see how that goes. It is the most common form of childhood accidental magic.

Transfiguration was next and they made it without issue thanks to the female prefect. It seems they were switching off so the other could take notes for the beginning and ending of class while the other helps us to learn our way around.

After the morning classes everyone gathered for lunch and Severus took the opportunity for a small break to head to the library.

The librarian was an older woman who, funny enough, was not Irma Prince. It was an idle curiosity to know if there was any relation between him and the future librarian but apparently it would have to wait.

One madam Abigale Taylor (no you may not call me Abby), thankfully was a librarian of the stern, yet helpful variety.

Despite her misgivings on helping him find books about learning such a difficult subject as Occlumency, she got him sorted on two books for beginners to check out and he wasn't going to argue with her.

Although he would probably flip out if the first words in either of the books are 'clear your mind'.

Rushing to catch up with the group, they had their final class of the day. Herbology with the Hufflepuffs. And they finally got to do practical work, but again Severus found it difficult to pay attention. Because now he couldn't stop thinking about if wizards and witches have ever smoked weed before, and if there is now a market to corner? Or if it even effects them?

Plan B was to brew potions for profit later on, to sell to students, such as draught of peace for anyone who needed to relax. And wit sharpening potion for the students taking their O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. He'd like the practice and it would have been two birds with one stone.

He doesn't know much about growing, or selling weed sadly. It wasn't really relevant in his past life so option B it is. Option A will hopefully be coming up later tonight.

The raven haired eleven year old happened to be partnered with Amelia Bones in this class though, and he remembered she'll eventually become the head of magical law enforcement.

She's only eleven now. So Severus couldn't tell you why he forgot that and thought it would be a good idea at the time to ask dear sweet Amelia what she knew of the subject.

"Do you know if weed is illegal in the wizarding world?" Severus asked innocently enough.

Ms. Bones looks confused at him for a moment before speaking, sounding more than a little confused, "I don't think weeds are illegal? Why do you ask? Did you think I would know?" She scrunches up her face cutely as she tries to piece this puzzle together without all the pieces.

Snape knew instantly they weren't talking about the same kind of weed based on her obvious obliviousness. He also knew he fucked up asking something like that of, what he only now just remembered, is an eleven year old girl.

'Nothing for it now' Severus thought. "Sorry it's just that you have the air of a law enforcement type about you. And it's alright, I know it seems like the question was directed at you, but I was just thinking out loud really. My mistake." He says while giving her an abashed smile that was actually genuine.

"Ah alright then. Let's put these tools away, class is just about over." She says while blushing.

He might have noticed her reaction but after having just reminded himself that they are children right now he thinks she's only embarrassed.

Little did he know that while before there had been a chance, however small, that Amelia Bones might have picked a different career. The innocent words of a dark haired and mysterious boy that she was beginning to like would lock her into the path of an auror.

Supper was as perfectly cooked as all the previous meals. So much so in fact he was starting to wonder if there was anything special about the feasts if the food is always so delicious.

Tonight he dined on roast chicken and potatoes with gravy, a healthy helping of broccoli and a slice of blackberry pie to finish it all off. While everyone was eating they commiserated about their first day of classes.

Internally Severus couldn't believe that they were complaining about learning _magic_ , though he supposed this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black. He was not enthused with the homework they were assigned on the first day.

He can finish it all in a few hours, maybe even one, if he really knuckles down to plow through it. And not because he's some kind of genius, he's not that arrogant. But he was a B average student in university and learning magic suitable for a first year is about as difficult as if he had to re-sit his secondary education. It's still time wasted in his mind however, when he could be learning so many more interesting things instead.

He knows he should feel grateful though. His mother had forced him to learn to write with both a pen and a quill growing up, and after taking token notes today in class in order to appear to be paying attention was enough for him to 'remember' how write fluently.

Severus managed to turn his mood around by talking with his fellow students and accomplishing one of his minor plans. More like covering his bases in this case really. It's not like he could just pop into the kitchens like he owned the place when no one told him how to get there.

So he casually asked about where the kitchens are and who cooks this wonderful food that they all enjoy.

None of the first years knew of course, but we were sitting close enough to the older years that they were pulled into our conversation as well and a few of them were happy to tell us of the portrait of a fruit bowl in the basement level that, if one were to tickle the pear it would turn into a doorknob that leads to the kitchen.

None of them spoke with respect regarding the house elves however. Too bad for them if they underestimated the little buggers, this black haired boy certainly wouldn't.

When it becomes obvious Severus isn't participating in the jokes at the expense of the elves, he calmly points out that it would be the height of rudeness to insult the ones who make your food. Some of the smarter ones around him managed to figure out just what the elves could do to their food with them being none the wiser, while most sadly continued to look down on and belittle them.

Snape wasn't concerned for himself however, he fully planned on being a familiar, friendly face when he goes to visit them on occasion.

After being stuffed the students dispersed to head to their common rooms or wander the halls.

The dark eyes of Severus were practically glittering in delight at what he was about to go see, when he's stopped by a hand on the shoulder.

One of his year mates speaks up, "Hey Severus, where are you going?"

Without even thinking about the ramifications he tells them, "I'm going to go explore a little bit of the castle, I'd like to familiarize myself with it until I know where everything is."

"Sounds brilliant! We'll come with." Another one of our group pipes up, one of the girls this time.

Like glass shattering into a million pieces, never to be put back together again, the light of happiness in his eyes, dies an ignoble death.

He takes a slow breath in and tries to tell himself it will be ok. He's only waited a week to get to this point, and only most of his plans hinge on the existence of a certain room he would like to make sure is actually there. A certain room, that if it exists, he would like to keep to himself for… oh… _ever_.

Breathing out in exasperation, "Sure! Let's all go exploring!" He says with false cheer that none of them catch while his smile is frozen in a rictus of silent pain that betrays none of the abject rage he feels in his current situation. It's not like he can just tell these people to leave him alone after he put in so much work earlier today.

But he can remember. And he will make these future minions remember someday, far in the future of the inconvenience they are causing him at this moment.

Thoughts of making them do inane things like rubbing their bellies while patting their heads for his amusement… for days on end, are all that get him through this little adventure with his sanity intact.

They managed to find a secret passageway that leads from the second floor to the sixth, that only feels like going up one flight of steps, in what Severus is now sure is some sick fourth dimensional real life version of an M.C. Escher painting.

But it's undeniably useful so he will, magnanimously, downgrade their punishment. Maybe make them eat a bowl of spider webs instead.

Nothing else of note happens on their journey so they decide it's time to head back to the common room for the rest of the night.

He begs off any more fun for the night in favor of getting a head start on his homework and self-study. Severus doesn't tell them about that second part though. He doesn't want to come off as some kind of overachiever any more than he already is.

He felt it was a good balance to only raise his hand and answer one question per class. To be known as intelligent, but not in their face about it was the happy middle he was casting for (apparently for wizards it's casting, not shooting).

Glad to be back inside the relative privacy of his room after the crushing disappointment of earlier, he sets about getting started on his homework to knock it out in a record pace. It's actually easier than he thought it would be, with proper spacing and indenting, combined with citing examples.

He can see exactly how the future bookworm, Hermione Granger, can get carried away and write foot after foot of parchment.

And just like that he wasted a half hour thinking about how he'll eventually use that to put her in the kind of detention with the type of punishment that will make her want to keep breaking rules to come back for more.

Finally finishing the tediousness of parchment work, and lamenting his missed opportunity earlier in the day to get a jumpstart on breaking the game of life, he cracks open one of the two Occlumency books he got from the library earlier in the day.

Casting tempus a few hours later only to find it's already after midnight he lets out a muttered curse. Severus certainly didn't mean to get so absorbed in reading, though he isn't all that surprised. Both the old and new Snape had an obsessive streak when it came to something they wanted, or were interested in.

It easily explains how he becomes potions master at such a young age in the original timeline. He was so great at brewing potions, not only because he was a genius at it, but because he had a passion for it that would simply not allow anything less.

After using a few of the Occlumency exercises to start on organizing his thoughts Severus is glad to still feel that passion. He's still got it, and grins excitedly for the first potions lesson of the year tomorrow.

Occlumency is actually a fascinating subject too. Part of knowing your own mind will confer proportional benefits to recognizing if it's being affected by outside influence.

The number of ways to actually enforce Occlumency is staggering in its versatility. Once a person hits intermediate level they can come up with any elaborate defense they can think of. But therein, coincidentally lies the problem.

Walls won't actually keep a Legilimancer out, they will only alert you to the attempt. A novice user will try to batter them down and will eventually succeed if the defender isn't quick enough to reinforce themselves. An expert however will subtly probe for a crack they can exploit without alerting their target and simply slip in entirely unnoticed and have free reign to one's innermost thoughts.

One helpful fact the book has is, funny enough, clearing your mind. And didn't that just tickle him that is wasn't even in the first chapter. Thinking of nothing will allow you to focus entirely on anything that's not supposed to be there.

Upon further reading Severus wondered if the opposite held true as well? What about bombarding an invader with hundreds of useless, everyday memories and sensations?

He already had a few ideas of his own to implement, and by doing all of them, it would hopefully be enough to deter anyone.

He knew from within the first few minutes of his arrival in this world that he could section off parts of his mind. Now the question was how best to use this natural talent of his to make a superb defense?

Creating a straw puppet false mind didn't fool the sorting hat, but the dark haired boy wasn't sure if that was because it wasn't complete enough or if the hat can just bypass anything?

Another thought was that the best defense is a good offence, and he was pretty sure that launching an immediate, and violent counter attack would put any Legilimancer off balance.

But the disconcerting part of the book was that the only way to know how good any defense is, is to have it tested. And he's not about to even risk that. So all he could really do in the end was throw up redundancy after redundancy until the day finally came that he was tested.

The easiest defense he could think of was to continue with his false mind. Fill it with just enough memories to fool anyone, and then proceed to throw up powerful walls around it to make the decoy seem even more legitimate while keeping the important things partitioned deeper.

With any luck, an aggressor would hopefully realize there is nothing of value and leave.

The next defense he had in mind to work on after finishing this would be to create false memories of random nonsense that are incomprehensible. Because, as it turns out, whatever a Legilimancer sees, has to be interpreted. If they see a memory and are lacking context to it, it's astoundingly likely they might draw the wrong conclusion from it if they don't understand the feelings or emotions behind it.

Collapsing into an exhausted heap upon the bed, he squirms around until he's nestled under the covers. All things considered it was a great first day.

'And the best part', he thought with a smile as he slipped into sleep, 'is that I made _far_ more progress than I expected to in such a short time.'

Thinking of that however caused him to groan. He'd forgotten to make time to practice wandless magic! Oh well, maybe he can get away with doing that in certain classes when they work on theory instead of practical?

Severus knew that tomorrow would be even better.

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you all again for coming back. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and don't worry. I hope to have only a few more chapters of building up and establishing before I can start getting to the really good parts. And it's because of everyone who has already shown support and enjoyed this work of mine, that I worked so hard to get it out to you, as soon as possible. I'm a little embarrassed to admit though that I am a** _ **slow**_ **writer. It took me most of a day to write this whole chapter from start to finish and end up with what feels like so little. But I promise to keep working at it. And I'll do my level best to get out a chapter of roughly this size, give or take, once a week, on a day that's still to be determined. And as always** **reviews/favorites/follows are appreciated.**

 **A/N 2: I also want to give my thanks to Belgrave123 for the suggestion and to say you are absolutely right. I almost fell into the trap, but I think I managed to work something out. Thank you so much!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: WOW you guys are incredible! I can't believe how well received this has been so far and it's all the motivation I need to keep going. My other story "Aggressive Love" might have eclipsed this one in favorites and follows after only a few days, but this one still has over twice the reviews that lets me know how much you care. Thank you again, please enjoy.**

 **Warning: This story will contain adult situations and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that entails.**

 **Half-Blood Emperor**

 **Chapter 3**

The second day of life as a Hogwarts first year started with Severus meandering through his daily morning routine.

He met up with the other children in the common room and they left as a group to make their way to the great hall for breakfast.

Severus chewed slowly and thoughtfully, while truthfully still trying to wake up completely. Bellatrix, in what was fast becoming a daily routine of checking up on her sister, was sharp as a whip and noticed the black haired child still only had one foot in the land of the living.

"What's the matter Severus? Aren't you excited for a whole new day of classes? Don't tell me you're exhausted already?" The violet eyed young woman said with a slightly teasing smirk, hoping to trip him up in his half-awake state and get a rise out of him. She succeeded, though maybe not the in the way she had expected.

It would take more than that to shake up the unflappable man in a younger body. "Yes I am. Your sister kept me up late, running me ragged, and trying to explore every inch without stopping to give my body a break. Narcissa was practically insatiable. I think we did very well, but it was the first time for both of us so there was a bit of fumbling about, as to be expected. It was a lot of fun though and I'm sure we both look forward to doing it again sometime." Severus said in a casual tone of voice as though he were discussing the weather.

His perfectly innocent statement was littered with innuendo by the simple omission of explicitly saying exactly _what_ it was they were doing.

Narcissa's face kept flushing redder and redder as the dark eyed Severus delivered one sentence after another. And Bellatrix didn't help the situation any, biting her lip to keep from laughing. Both at how impassive Severus explained his tired state, seemingly without meaning for his words to be taken in a sexual context.

"T-that's not what happened!" The blonde haired Narcissa refuted.

Severus turns his gaze to look at Narcissa and blinks owlishly in bewilderment. "Weren't you the one who took me by the hand and demanded we keep going for as long as we could?" He questions.

"Oh my Cissy I didn't know you could be so bold. Well don't worry I'm sure that if you keep at it your _friend_ will build up enough stamina to keep up with you." Bellatrix jibes, getting in on the ribbing.

"I-I-I… He didn't. We were just exploring the castle!" Narcissa finally erupted. Hoping to put an end to this.

"Yes I know." Bellatrix says with a quirked eyebrow.

"Exactly." Severus drawls in a bland tone.

"That's what we were discussing." Bellatrix pipes back in.

"What did _you_ think we were talking about?" Severus asks as he arches his own questioning eyebrow.

To her credit, the younger Black sister only gaped at her sister's and friends teamwork in teasing her for a moment before collecting herself.

"I will get you back for this." She promises, while shooting a dark glare at both her tormentors.

"Aw Cissy I'm sorry, we were only having a bit of fun. Tell you what, I'll show you around the castle tomorrow and we'll make a day of it. Just us sisters." Bellatrix said in an attempt to appease her little sister.

"Okay." She exhales sharply. "You're forgiven then." She said to her elder sister before renewing her dark glare on Severus. "Well?" Narcissa asked expectantly.

Looking at her with a blank stare, Severus seems to be mulling over his response before addressing the blue eyed girl.

"I'm not apologizing." Severus said bluntly before continuing, not giving Narcissa the time to let his refusal set in. "You're cute when you're flustered." He finished, picking up his utensils and promptly returned to the remainder of his breakfast in clear dismissal.

"F-fine then, stupid boy." Narcissa stutters out and doesn't look up from her own plate.

Meanwhile Bellatrix has a mirthful look on her face while wondering what to do about this young love. She likes Severus and thinks he'd make a good match for her sister as he doesn't seem inclined to stifle her like so many others would.

He is only a half-blood however, so he'd need to offer something worthwhile to get a betrothal contract with her younger sister. While not an impossible task, it is certainly a daunting one. Perhaps she could nudge him in the right direction to excel and become a beneficial candidate in her parents eyes.

It was about time Bellatrix started thinking of her own future in the wake of all her own lackluster suitors. She'd hate to leave the family like her older sister Andi had, but seeing Narcissa and Severus together had her thinking there might be some appeal to seizing her destiny and getting what she wants.

The day continued on with nothing of note taking place until the last class of the day. Potions with the Gryffindors. The rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor at this point in history was just that. A rivalry. Outright hostility was still a few years off from what Severus could tell.

At least that's what he had observed so far until he partnered up with his childhood friend Lily. While Professor Slughorn was all too happy to see the two houses getting along in his class, the actual houses of red and green, didn't.

Or more specifically, Narcissa didn't like Severus associating with the little red headed tart.

The aforementioned red head wasted no time in seeking out her friend, taking him by the hand, and talking to him about how exciting it was learning magic as she led them to a desk. All without a care to the fuming blonde Slytherin they left behind.

As it turns out, some common fanfiction stereotypes exist for a reason. And the thought that the original Snape was a shit teacher was spot on. Or at least when compared to Professor Slughorn.

The jovial professor made it clear and up front that for the first few months of classes, the first years will be focusing on proper brewing safety and procedures. Learning the right way to clean and care for equipment and ingredients. And being quizzed on why using the techniques that will be taught are the right way to do things, as well as what happens when someone is negligent or careless.

Every class for the foreseeable future would be on something different that they will find essential to brewing for the rest of their lives.

It was much more involved than simply saying, "Instructions are on the board, you have one hour. Begin." And because of this Severus was taking just as many notes on _how_ Slughorn was teaching as well as what. He'd be damned if he wasn't everyone's favorite teacher when he takes the post.

After dinner Severus begged off exploring again in favor of browsing through the library. His fellow year mates blissfully left him to it. So now that he had some time alone to himself he got to work.

This trip to the library was mostly a fact finding mission to gather information for comparison later. Severus began writing down a list of titles of interesting books in most of the sections until he felt it was enough to keep him busy for a few years. The slightly more difficult part was the restricted section.

Oh how he'd love nothing more than to get a free pass at all those books that no doubt held knowledge on subjects that many would find questionable. One such subject was Legilimency.

While flitting about the library he passed by the section the librarian had brought him to that contained the books on Occlumency. And while Legilimency was referenced in a few of the books on the shelf, he couldn't find a dedicated tome in the bunch. Not a single one went into the actual spell itself and how to perform it, only defend against it.

Also worryingly was just how small the section on mind magic really was. It turns out there was plenty of references that eluded to all the different things it can do without actually saying or teaching anything. There was nothing on how to _actually_ use things like the Obliviation charm.

Severus reasoned that those must be in the restricted section, which made sense and he could even agree with it. That being said, he stood as close to the edge of the clearly marked section as he could and squinted at the books on the shelves. He managed to make out only a few titles, many being too far away, but most of them not even having titles on the spines. That was fine though, he only needed a few samples. Three should be enough, plus the few he _knew_ should be in there like Moste Potente Potions.

Now having a large list he set off, waving good bye to the librarian. He took the secret passageway the other students and him discovered the night before to quickly get to the sixth floor of the castle.

Severus's heart was beating so hard and felt like it was in his throat as he ascended the steps to the seventh floor. This was the moment he'd been both eagerly anticipating and dreading.

The Room of Requirement. Capable of becoming any room a person needs just by walking past its location three times while thinking of what you want, and the room shall provide. All lot of what Severus was planning revolved around this particular room working exactly as advertised.

Although it won't be the end if it doesn't work. He had plenty of other ideas, but this one was simply the most versatile, and would make everything exponentially easier. Catapulting his growth at a truly ridiculous pace.

Severus eventually found the tapestry he knew would denote the location of this most wondrous room, and took a moment to admire the futility of trying to teach trolls to dance.

Taking a glance at the blank wall, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Deciding to keep it simple, he starts walking while thinking about needing the room of hidden things. Making a second, and then third pass across where the threshold should be he comes to a halt.

He didn't hear anything. His heart stopped in his chest and his blood froze in his veins at the crushing anticipation. He almost can't bear to look but he has to see, has to make absolutely sure.

And it's there. A great door in the wall, where previously there was none.

His breath caught in his throat and his mouth went dry as he grasps the handle and opens the door. Inside is a beautiful sight of trash and junk. Piled almost up to the ceiling are broken pieces of furniture, trunks, clothes, desks, anything and everything can seemingly be found in this room.

But more important than anything in here is the fact that it _exists_. Severus promised himself he wouldn't cry, but he was just so happy.

He calmly steps back instead of going forward however. This version of the room would take all seven years of Hogwarts and them some to go through. Eventually, when he has the time, he will sift through the room of hidden things, repairing and smuggling out the most valuable pieces of furniture, any gems, jewelry, and anything of worth.

As much as he would love to get started on that right away and keep some treasure horded to fall back on, the black haired child thinks of safety first. There are good odds that there are some cursed objects littered among the clutter, along with at least one horcrux that he knows of. He would have to learn every detection charm he could before he got started.

Shutting the door closed he watches in awe at how it seems to fade away, almost like sinking into the stones, and by the time it's gone it's a featureless wall again.

With the initial test done he takes a deep breath and prepares himself for razzle dazzle.

Walking past the wall three times, he thinks about needing a library. The door appears again and this time he grasps the handle and opens the door without hesitation.

It's everything he thought it would be and more. Calling it a room would be an understatement. It's at least of comparable size to the great hall, but he's unconcerned about measuring at the moment. Severus steps inside and closes the door behind him, and looks at the rows upon rows of books. Stacked on shelves that line the walls and stretch all the way up to the ceiling, and comfy looking couches and chairs littered around.

Striding forward he sees one interesting piece that stands out. In the center of the rows of bookshelves, nearer to the entrance, is a pedestal with a single large tome on it. Curiosity getting the better of him, he makes a bee-line towards it to investigate.

He can't help the ear to ear smile as he reads the title on the cover. A single word, in elegant script, _Index_.

Slowly trailing his fingers across the cover he reverently opens the large book to the first page.

 _This is the Index of Rowena Ravenclaw's library. This book was created to inventory, catalog, and self-update every book in this library. Every new book that has come through the halls of Hogwarts are automatically copied and added to the library. While none of these books can leave this room as they are, any that are copied, whether temporarily or permanent, can be taken out. This was done with the continued preservation and accessibility of knowledge in mind. And to replace any books that become rare, irreplaceable, or lost for any reason._

" _Let knowledge never be forgotten." ~Rowena Ravenclaw._

Severus spent a few moments just looking at this book. This entire room wasn't just what he was hoping for, it completely blew his expectations away. Not only did this mean he had full access to the entire restricted section, he could find books from the time of the founders in here. Any book that had been removed from the school entirely, either by Dumbledore or any previous headmaster could be found here.

All at the fingertips of an eleven year old with a God complex.

It might not contain any family specific grimoires for the fact they wouldn't likely bring them to school. But that was hardly a complaint when he looked around at the vast wealth around him. Besides the most important information he knew to be here already.

Severus was content with this knowledge.

Because Voldemort created his first horcrux at sixteen. He learned about how to make one from a book in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library from when he attended school. And that book along with countless others existed in this room.

The index was invaluable as well, as it allowed him to quickly locate anything he was interested in. The obvious first book he grabbed off a shelf was an older charms text book that had a spell specifically dedicated to copying books.

The reason it was in an older book became apparent when researching other copying spells. After the first version was made, charms to prevent duplicating became immediately prevalent so that everyone who sold… well anything really, could stay in business.

It raised the question of why this library was able to copy any of the more recent books when the flaw with copyright charms became glaringly obvious. The protection charms are specific to only stop wand magic. No one ever thought to stop any other method of duplicating. But Severus couldn't blame them for that. They had no reason to think anyone or anything could try another method. And he was grateful to Rowena for being such a brilliant witch, who inadvertently defeated copyright protection without even trying, or meaning to.

Severus settled in to learning the duplication charm after burning his list that he made in the main Hogwarts library. It was unneeded now that he could start a new list with more books, tomes, and grimoires he had access to. Books on Legilimency and Obliviation were at the top of the new list. He seemed to be a natural at mind magic and that was a helpful thing to be proficient in.

As the hours passed, pouring over such interesting books, he lost track of time without being able to see how dark it had become outside. Severus cursed as he cast the tempus spell and realized it was already well past curfew.

Putting the books away respectfully, he slips out of the room and starts the long trek back to the dungeons. He made it to the short cut just fine but ran into a problem on the other side while he was halfway down the hall.

Filch, the caretaker, jumped around the corner with a positively gleeful smile. "Aha! Caught you out of bounds you little troublemaker!" He crows as he starts towards Severus. "Headmaster Dumbledore says it's too early in the year to have rule breakers like you but I knew better." He says, and Severus is mostly sure the unkempt caretaker is talking to himself now.

The black haired boy mentally curses his luck, and laments that he doesn't have useful things at this moment. Like an invisibility cloak… or a map that shows where everyone in the castle is…

Oh well, things to bump up his mental list on shit he _needs_ to do.

Severus continues running through a mental list on his options, and letting himself get in trouble is not something he'd like to have on his record so early in first year. It might be some kind of record, but not one he wants to be in contention for.

He knows this part of the castle decently well by now, and knows there are no portraits to witness anything so there's that. He probably can't run away, plus Filch has seen his face anyway. Severus was running through a list of spells he could use to get out of this situation, but he kept running into the problem of what to do with Filch having seen his face. And then he remembered what he'd just spent the past few hours researching, still fresh in his mind.

A slow smile spreads across Severus' face and it gives the squib who loves bullying children pause. That hadn't been the reaction Filch had been expecting. Whining and crying sure, but no one was ever happy to see him, and it made him instantly suspicious.

Before he can question the boy, he speaks up, but only says one bone chilling sentence. "Oh look… A volunteer." He said with a small amount of cheer coloring his tone. As if he's glad to have found Argus Filch. And Argus didn't like the sound of that one bit.

Before he can close the distance or try to take cover, a wand is in the boy's hand and…

What was happening? Right, right he was just on his routine patrol and so far hadn't seen anything noteworthy or suspicious. No little brats out of bounds tonight so far. But he'd keep looking and he'd find them for sure! There had to be some, somewhere. Headmaster Dumbledore always wanted him to take it easy in the beginning of the year, but this was when he had to be extra attentive to crack down hard on the troublemakers, to serve as a lesson to the rest of them.

Meanwhile Severus was jumping for joy on the inside at a successful first casting of obliviation. How has anyone ever gotten in trouble with the caretaker before when he was only a squib? 'Oh yes, not everyone has access to the restricted section.' He thought to himself.

Getting back into the dorms proved uneventful after that, and none of the Slytherins who were still up paid him any more than a passing glance at his late entrance.

The days passed by in this manner, with little variation until flying lessons. Ah yes, flying on broomsticks. The first of a few things Severus just isn't good at. That's not to say he didn't enjoy it or that it wasn't fun. But the raven haired Severus found he had a hard time balancing on a piece of wood. Severus spent most of the lesson fantasizing about deconstructing what it takes to make brooms fly and creating a glider, like the Green Goblin from the Spiderman comics.

James Potter and his friends were already starting to make themselves an annoyance. Well so far it was just James and Sirius that started small pranks on various students, the Slytherin first years being targets of one minor water balloon incident that was more annoying than anything.

Harmless so far and they haven't been focusing any undue attention to Severus in particular, despite how he often spent time sitting by Lily in shared classes and studying in the library. It makes sense considering Potter has yet to hit puberty, and notice what a red headed knockout Lily will grow up to be.

Severus mused that it would be a few years before they become the Marauders of legend. So far Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew had yet to join in on the pranking.

Halloween had been uneventful, except for a concerning story about a muggleborn's missing parents. Severus wondered how long it would be before everyone realized a terrorist organization was operating amongst them.

November had the first Quidditch game of the season. Severus sat with a dour expression on his face at how easily he had caved to Lily's request that he come and watch it with her. She was still enamored with all things magic related, and even though she found a sport played on brooms fascinating, she was only now starting to critique the rules.

Severus rather wished they had this conversation inside however. The November morning was freezing cold and slightly drizzling.

He was making an honest effort to follow the game though. He could admit it was a decent spectator sport with a lot going on. There were the chasers passing the quaffle back and forth. The keepers who stick by their respective hoops as a last line of defense to keep the other team from scoring points. The seekers, staying ever vigilant for a telltale flash of the golden snitch so they can catch it to end the game, and net a frankly ridiculous amount of points in the process. And if the other team hasn't shut them down with points racked up by their chasers will be guaranteed a win.

Oh and he couldn't forget the beaters who add another dimension to the game with solid iron balls that they can hit with sticks at other players. The fascinating part, when Severus thought about it, was how they were enchanted to… home… in… on…

"Fucking shite!" He swore when he made the connection that he wouldn't have to start from scratch in enchanting a bullet fired from a gun to home in on a person.

"Severus Tobias Snape! Language! Just because you're not rooting for the Gryffindor's doesn't mean you need to get so upset that they knocked out the Hufflepuff seeker." The fiery little red head next to him admonished.

"Sorry Lily." Snape replied sullenly, thoroughly chastised. It helped him to think she was reading his thoughts and was really berating him because he could overlook something so obvious. Well less obvious and more like an outside the box application of something that's already known.

December brought about Christmas break.

There were so many useful and interesting things he had already found in the room of requirement that would make excellent gifts for all his friends, but common sense won out in the end.

It would be rather difficult to explain where he got such rare books that Lily would love and fawn over. She was already taking off in charms class and leaving everyone a distant speck on the horizon.

The elegant jewelry that would leave Narcissa a blushing wreck, especially the sapphire earrings he'd found that are a perfect match to her eye color.

And Severus shuddered to think what Bellatrix would do to him if he gave her an ornately curved dagger, enchanted to be wickedly sharp. He had tested it against a wooden table leg that was already beyond salvageable, and cleaved through it with very little resistance, he was pleased to note.

So he set these things aside for later use in a few years. It was nice to have birthday and Christmas gifts sorted… oh… forever.

This year, Severus would have to settle for more reasonable gifts like candy and a few mail order items that wouldn't go amiss with the people he associated with. The school owls got quite the workout thanks to him.

Some other items that he ordered were a variety of potions ingredients. The first years had finally started brewing a month before, learning simple potions and salves first.

But now that he had some confidence in preparing and brewing, as well as two solid weeks without classes, it was a good opportunity to try out a little known potion he discovered in the room of requirement.

Severus wanted to be able to do magic once he got home for the summer, and this potion would strip the trace from his wand. It didn't take long to brew, only a few hours. But the problem came from needing to let his wand soak in the mixture for a full twenty-four hours.

Not having classes, and with most of the students spending the holidays at home meant it was as good a time as any to get this done.

The black haired young man also spent a bit of time over the holiday keeping the Hogwarts house elves company. They were inordinately pleased to have someone to take care of, and were more than happy to answer all of his questions about anything in general.

He eventually slipped in how useful the little guys seemed to be and politely inquired about how one might go about getting their own house elf.

Severus learned that the selling and purchasing of a house elf is heavily regulated by the ministry. But one family _gifting_ another family a house elf doesn't even require any paper work. What really interested him however, was just how many free elves that died every year because they couldn't find a family to serve. Hogwarts took in plenty, but only had so much room. The problem for them came from how they are usually at the limit for what Hogwarts needs, and so some of their children either go up for sale, or have to make their own way in the world.

Just like gifting a house elf, binding a free elf is also unregulated. Because of this, the elves were overjoyed that someone was interested in accepting a house elf. There were none currently available in the castle, but they promised to stay on the lookout and send one his way when they found a free elf that needed a good home.

The only other thing of note that happened during the break was that he'd finally read all he could about Legilimency without actually having used it yet. He wanted to build up some experience by trying it out on muggleborns first. They were less likely to have even heard of Occlumency, and he wanted to be great at doing it wandlessly, and without it being noticed, before he moved on to anyone who he thought might have some kind of rudimentary defense.

When all the students came back from break Severus finally got to try out mind reading for the first time. As it turns out, it was crushingly disappointing. Most children don't really think of anything worthwhile, at least not to Severus' perspective.

Pretty much everyone was hung up one who was dating who, how they did on the last test, who they thought would win the next Quidditch match.

And sure, he learned plenty of secrets and blackmail, but none of it was anything truly spectacular that he cared about. The most interesting out of the lot was a sixth year Ravenclaw muggleborn who liked to discretely masturbate during classes, and clearly had a closet exhibitionist streak by getting off with the fear of being caught. Other than that he learned of where almost all the broom closets are thanks to some of the older students escapades.

Interesting certainly. But at this rate he was only building his own frustration as he still had a bit to go before puberty set in and he could finally enjoy female company the way he'd like.

This wasn't without its advantages however, Severus got plenty of practice and now felt comfortable at discretely testing himself against purebloods who he assumed would have some training in defending their minds.

Severus desperately wanted to bang his head against the Slytherin table in the great hall. But that wouldn't do and would be out of character for the normally unflappable first year.

Almost _none_ of the purebloods had any form of defense whatsoever! The only explanation he could think of was that Legilimency was so rare in this day and age, that no one bothered to defend against it.

Sirius Black as, as an heir of an Ancient and Noble House, had some training in Occlumency. Just really rudimentary shields that Severus could laughably slip around because of how skilled he'd gotten, leaving Sirius none the wiser.

James Potter however, had no defense to speak of. At least reading his mind wasn't entirely fruitless. He learned that he didn't have the infamous invisibility cloak yet. James knew about it certainly, but his father had told him he would be passing it on to him for his thirteenth birthday.

Nothing interesting was in Peter Pettigrew's mind. Just a desperation to want to fit in with the cool kids that are his roommates.

The really interesting one was Lupin. The werewolf in him actually had a space inside his mind and gave a warning growl at his casual brush to test any defenses he may have. Remus Lupin also looked around in confusion, unaware of why he felt the need to be cautious all of a sudden.

He backed off immediately. Severus had no desire to test that particular defense… although it did give him more ideas for his own defenses.

Funny enough what he gleaned from the first year Gryffindor's minds, was that they are currently unaware of Remus' 'furry little problem' and only thought he got sick quite often and is out for a few days every once in a while. They still hadn't made the connection with how consistent Remus' illness is, and are only just now starting to worry about how often it happens.

'Oh well', Severus mused. They'd likely figure it out around the end of this year or early in the next school year.

The end of first year approached quickly enough. After the final exams, Severus could be found once more in the room of requirement. He kept his visits to a minimum throughout the year. Only making two trips a month to find gems and jewels in the room of hidden things to finance his plans for the summer, and taking five or six books at a time from the library to study in his dorm. A perfectly good mokeskin pouch helped in this endeavor. And he pointedly tried not to think about the fact it's previous owner must be dead since he can get things in and out of it just fine.

This last visit was to satisfy his curiosity on what the sorting hat suggested to him on his first night here. Severus pulled a few books on rituals, that had been helpfully highlighted by the index, as what he should find most useful.

He admired the charms on that book. Rowena Ravenclaw had a talent for it if just this one and the 'Book of Names' that Hogwarts uses as a registry for students are prime examples of her prowess and forethought.

Severus found out early on when pouring over the index, looking for something in general, that simply thinking about what you're looking for will cause the book to sort, and put in order a list with short summaries for you of the types books that you're interested in.

At this time he was using it to find a few tomes on easy to do, useful, rituals that use common ingredients. A little bit of self-imposed, summer homework to look into along with practicing a few of the more complex potions that could be done in less than a week.

As much as he'd love to have fun with Polyjuice, he just didn't have the time to branch out and do too much at once. And the identity stealing potion was something he planned to make a large batch of eventually and save for special occasions in the future.

Instead he'd put effort into experimenting with the method of delivery for different potions. Trying to see if it's possible to condense them into a pill form. Or more insidiously, skin contact and/or aerosol spray.

He couldn't shake the idea of how much more effective some of them would be if he could use a spritz bottle instead of contriving a way of dosing people's food and drink the traditional way.

"I can't believe how wonderful this year has been!" Lily gushed as her and Severus packed their trunks into a compartment on the Hogwarts express.

"Me too. I can't wait to start classes again. Only two months until we come back though." Severus responded truthfully.

Only two months of putting up with his family. And once more he was glad for being reborn as Severus Snape. His parents really didn't care about him much, and he had enough parental love in his past life that these practical strangers not caring for him didn't bother him.

He would still have to be careful around the house, but that's why he planned to find an abandoned house to set up shop in for the day time. So long as Severus put in an appearance regularly at home, he could spend most of the day elsewhere, brewing potions, and studying the books on rituals he'd brought with him. He even spent a few _weeks_ on figuring out how to set up all the different variations of muggle repelling wards, and now that his wand was trace free he could be a wizard with impunity for the summer.

Severus and Lily had just gotten settled in when the compartment door banged open to reveal Narcissa Black and a few of his other Slytherin friends.

"Severus come here. We're going to find a compartment to share for the trip home." The blonde hair, blue eyed girl commands imperiously.

Lily takes offence to this behavior on Severus' behalf and speaks up, "You can't just boss him around like that! We already found this compartment and he's going to spend the trip back with me."

"That's irrelevant. He belongs with us Evans." Narcissa said in a frigid tone of voice with a glare to match.

Throughout the year, despite Severus' best effort at playing peacemaker, the two young ladies seemed to become the most bitter of rivals. The best he could do was put his silver tongue to work and keep them from getting angry at him. It wasn't actually too difficult, and with him being twelve years old, he could still play 'the clueless boy who doesn't understand girls yet card'.

"Hmm, actually I suppose I should spend the ride back with them this time Lily. It makes sense." Severus said.

"Really?!"

"Really?"

Two choruses from the red and blonde haired girls respectively, said in almost perfect stereo. Lily sounding slightly betrayed while Narcissa sounded pleased and just a little hopeful.

"Well I won't see them for the whole summer while we'll be spending almost every day together." The raven haired boy reasoned diplomatically.

And like a switch had been flipped, so too had the two girls expressions.

"Why wouldn't you come to visit Bella and I? Why spend so much time with _her_?" Narcissa questioned with obvious disdain when referring to Lily.

"Well my parents are assholes." He starts to explain and his frankness shocks the two girls into listening with rapt attention.

"So of course I'm not going to expose anyone else to them by inviting my friends over. Secondly I live in the same muggle neighborhood as Lily. That's why we'll spend so much time together." He says, and Lily blushes at the insinuation of closeness while Narcissa pouts.

"And because of that, magical travel is limited to the Knight Bus for me, for the summer. But don't worry I plan on getting an owl when I next visit Diagon Alley so I'll be sending you letters Narcissa." Severus finishes up his explanation while flicking his wand and levitating his trunk back down to take with him.

Lily gives him a long hug goodbye and says loudly enough for Narcissa to hear, "Remember, my parents are picking us up on the platform to take us home."

"I know, I know. I'll see you then Lily." Severus says as he steps out of the compartment and walks with his fellow Slytherins down the hall.

"Did you mean what you said back there? About your parents I mean?" One of the others asked curiously as they piled into their compartment.

"Oh yeah, dad's a drunk who hates magic, and mum has a bitter personality. They fight all the time and I'm just surprised they haven't gotten a divorce yet." He says blandly as though it's an everyday occurrence and no big deal. Which to be fair, wasn't a big deal to him.

Narcissa appeared to be on the verge of tears, and for the first time since they met, actually gave him a tight hug.

"Hey, hey now. That's no reason to get all sappy on me now. Where's the strong Slytherin I know and love?" He said trying to cheer her up while stroking her hair, completely unaware that she took his use of the 'L' word too literal. He still slipped up with figures of speech from his old life, not to mention witches and wizards have their own vernacular.

She straightened up and put on a brave face, wanting him to be able to depend on her now. "Don't worry Severus." She said looking him with steel in her sapphire orbs. "The Blacks are a powerful family. I'm sure that there's something we can do." The statement was backed up by the others affirming that they would do whatever it took to help him as well.

'Holy shit I didn't think I made it sound that bad!' Was Severus' internal thoughts. He needed to curtail this before it got out of hand.

"Hey now there's no need for that princess." He says while brushing a tear that managed to fall with his thumb as he cupped her face. "I don't know why you're so upset on my behalf, but thank you. I'm only there for two months out of the year, for a few more years, before I can move out. Besides, I have plans set up for this summer and I'll hardly ever be there." He said truthfully.

"If you're sure." She said hesitantly.

He takes her hand and gently brings it to his lips to kiss while looking her in the eye. "I am." He responds as he sets her hand back down. "But I want to thank you. All of you. It means more than I can say that you would offer such help to me." And he means it. It feels pleasant to have people who would so readily give assistance if he needed it.

"The summer break will be over before we know it. So try not to spend all your time thinking about me." Severus says playfully while poking at her sides and stomach to tickle her.

In the coming years he would realize he should have been more careful with how he interacted with Narcissa Black. Her family certainly was old fashioned, and he would end up inadvertently throwing his hat in the ring and be blindsided by a betrothal. Thanks in no small part to a mischievous violet eyed vixen.

 **A/N: Thank you all so much for your support, it is greatly appreciated. I hope you all continue to enjoy the story.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you all so much for your incredible responses to both my stories! It really encourages me to keep going when I check to find new reviews and the number of favorites and follows climbing day by day. And even now I haven't had a single flame! Just constructive criticism that is much appreciated for helping me get better as a writer, as well as positive reviews letting me know how much you enjoy it.**

 **Warning: This story will contain adult situations and language.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and all that entails.**

 **Half-Blood Emperor**

 **Chapter 4**

Severus finished his seventh counterclockwise stir and smiled as the potion went from a deep salmon pink color to a pale green. That indicated the correct color of a successful brewing for the potion known as Gregory's Unctuous Unction.

It wasn't an overly complicated potion, but it certainly wasn't in the first year book. This particular concoction fascinated him when he read the description, _the recipient of this potion will think of the giver as their best friend for the duration of three hours_. The book went on to talk about the history of the inventor, as well as the symptoms one would display when under the influence of such a potion. The passage went on to describe it as, _a euphoric like state similar to the imperious curse._

This would be the perfect control potion (pun intended) that would fulfill his purposes. He needed to experiment and test altering potions in his search to find different delivery methods. It was also an interesting potion that he couldn't wait to play around the recipe with to see if he could improve upon it. For now however, it would cause a reliable, and measurable affect that he can use to dial in his experiments.

Severus bottled the green liquid up into ten labeled vials and cleaned down his work station while making a mental list of things he needed. A still being one such thing in order to see what happens to potions that are distilled, but it would be easy enough to make one if he needed to. The next was whatever the best store bought chemistry set he could find to get started on reducing potions into a pill form… As well as books on how to do just that. Hopefully he could make up the difference with magic if it turned out to be improbable to get the necessary equipment at this point in time.

All of this would actually require money and he had been putting off visiting Gringotts since the summer started. Severus had valid reasons for this though, one of them being how long it took him to set up his fortress of solitude. He spent almost the whole of his first day back exploring the neighborhood, looking for the perfect location. There were quite a few houses for sale, but a surprising amount of abandoned houses as well. It used to be a booming town with the textile mill, but it slowly poisoned the river over the years and now no one who doesn't actually work at the mill wants to live in this part of town. He couldn't blame them, the smell coming from the river is terrible.

It did make it easy to get a nice two story house all to himself however. The outside was a little weather worn, but the inside was all hardwood floor and paneling. A large sitting and dining room on the ground floor. Five bedrooms and two bathrooms and the whole house was partially furnished so he wouldn't have to start from scratch.

Severus started by shoring up the defenses of his new base with the simple things, muggle repelling ward to keep people away. Insect repelling, because he wasn't having any of that nonsense. And fire suppression, because he wasn't delusional enough to think he could do all his experiments perfectly on the first try, and that would be one less thing to worry about.

What was more time consuming, and troublesome, was finding the proper runes to use in order to get running water and power. The water was easy, wizards and witches had needed it for hundreds of years and had long perfected ease of use and utility. So applying a series of runes on the water boiler in the basement to keep it continually full was simple enough. Luckily it was run on gas as well so he didn't need to find a complicated work around for electricity. Unluckily, wizards and witches had about as much need for a constant supply of gas as they did electricity, so until he could figure something out he would need to keep going into town to refill his tank as needed. But he was only one person so a full tank might just last him all summer.

Then there was the few hours every few days that the raven haired boy spent with Lily. He was eternally grateful for girls maturing faster than boys. She didn't want to talk about inane, childish things, and instead wanted to talk about his favorite subject, magic. They spent most of their time together lazing about on the lawn in the local park. Discussing magical theory far above their Hogwarts year level as they watched the clouds passing them by.

Severus was rather surprised at just how intelligent the redhead was. He knew she was described as once in a generation brilliant, but seeing her grasp a concept from the driest of texts was astounding to witness first hand. And he knew she understood it because she was able to simplify it in her own words instead of just parroting it back verbatim.

He almost felt bad for laying the groundwork for the future with her, but after spending time and getting to know her, there was no way he was letting her slip away and end up with James Potter. And so whenever they made eye contact in the first days of summer he would get in a little practice with mind magic.

Using legilimency without letting an untrained occlumens know had been easy with all the practice he got during first year using the unsuspecting student body. That wasn't any more difficult with Lily, for as smart as she was, she still wasn't aware that her mind was an unguarded open book.

But Severus had learned so many interesting things from the Ravenclaw library that had been forgotten over the years. And the most important one, in his not so humble opinion, was that legilimency can do _so much more_ than _just_ mind reading. The list of things a person can do to shape, change, and fundamentally alter in another human beings mind is staggering in its potential… and its potential for abuse. So much so, that it made mind reading an afterthought.

After all, why bother figuring out what someone's thinking, when you can manipulate their subconscious and decide what they think _for_ them?

Now there are some caveats to this. There was a reason why this branch of mind arts had boiled down to what it is today. And that's the difficulty of making lasting changes without having to redo whatever behavior it is you wanted to change over and over. Severus spotted a theme in all his reading on the subject. All the other practitioners from the bygone age had been impatient. They were trying to recreate a wandless, undetectable imperious.

They didn't understand the way the human mind works even just a hundred years ago. Brute force could only work so well and only for so long if it goes against a person's subconscious. They tried to make, and enforce whatever change they desired, and the mind would rebel against it because it was aware of the foreign thoughts on some level.

That's were Severus had incredible success. Having just a passing familiarity with psychology allowed him to make an alteration in a person's mind that tricks them into thinking a certain way. The insidious part was how he could use positive reinforcement to essentially mind control people. By attaching a positive feeling to a desired behavior, Severus can sit back and let a person's own mind do all the work for him instead of trying to impose his will on an individual.

For example he had to look no farther than what he had done with his childhood friend Lily. He didn't change much at all, only looked into her mind with legilimency and found that the preteen on the cusp of puberty already associated him with happy thoughts. By reinforcing what she already felt he turned what was her thinking of him as just a best friend, into a small crush. He left it at that for now because he wanted to see the effects of such a small change over time in the next few years without any more input from him.

There were other people he could try more extreme changes on, four Gryffindors in particular come to mind as ideal guinea pigs. And it was quite handy to have his parents ignore the oddness of him not staying at their house. Thankfully even pureblood minds had only the most basic of defenses if they even had any training in occlumency at all. His mother was one such example of someone who didn't feel the need to defend they're mind. Severus felt it probably had something to do with how rare an actual legilimancer was in this day and age.

His thoughts on playing puppet master with his fellow students was interrupted by some of his hair falling in front of his face as he finished cleaning. And wasn't that something new to deal with. Turns out the greasy hair isn't entirely genetic. Brewing potions caused a combinations of sweat and fumes to turn his once lustrous hair into this oily mess. He could understand how what would have been future him, if he didn't take over, would just let it go. Sure it comes out with a simple washing of shampoo, but it builds up so quickly that it can be daunting to stay on top of.

But not now! Now, as the new and improved Severus, he had a reputation and was determined to stay presentable when going out in public. So he started shucking his clothes off as he made his way to the master bedroom and shower that he claimed for himself.

He started up his second shower of the day, and probably not his last if he did any more brewing he thought to himself. He hated going to bed without feeling clean now. Severus stepped into the warm and refreshing spray of the shower and let the water sooth his body.

He had just begun to lather shampoo into his hair when he heard a sudden pop of displaced air followed by a high pitched, squeaky voice that said, "Hello Mr. Snapey!"

"Ahhh!" Severus let out an unmanly yelp as he threw the bottle in his hand at the sudden intruder, unfortunately it veered off course due to the shower curtain and landed harmlessly on the floor.

Furiously trying to wash the suds out of his eyes, the dark haired young man finally got a good look at his assailants only to deflate in relief.

"Oh thank Merlin it's just you Tilly." He addressed one of the Hogwarts house elves that he recognized standing in his bathroom. "I'm sorry for throwing a bottle at you and yelling… You startled me." He said as he turned off the water and wrapped a towel around his waist.

"Tilly is sorry Mr. Snapey sir. Tilly not knowing you be in the shower." The little elf apologized while hiding her eyes behind both hands.

"It's ok Tilly I'm covered now. What brings you and your friend by?" Severus asked, now that his heart had calmed down and he noticed the other, smaller elf in the room that was also covering its eyes.

"My names is Rilney Mr. Snapey sir." The smaller of the two house elves responded. "I's be a free elf sir." She continued on in a shaky voice before breaking out into sobs.

Tilly moved to comfort the younger elf and looked at Severus with big, soulful eyes, which was rather easy to do considering how large they're eyes actually are.

"Hogywarts house elves be's looking for free elves that need a good home, and Mr. Snapey said he could use a house elf." Tilly told him.

"Master Snapey will really bond with me and allow me to be his elf?" The elf that was identified as Rilney asked hopefully turning her watering, pleading gaze to Severus.

Severus cottoned on right away that they were going for the guilt trip route in hopes that he wouldn't turn the homeless elf away. He thought it was adorable that they were trying so hard, so he decided to have a little fun with it.

"I do need a house elf but I don't know…" He trailed off and the house elves gasped in slight fear that he might say no. As if he would turn down a house elf that was just being handed to him. "I have a lot of work that needs doing." He said.

"Rilney can's be doing work master Snapey sir!" She jumped at the life line offered.

"Hmmm I'm not sure. I need someone to do the laundry, keep the house clean, cooking would be nice, and even occasionally doing the shopping for me as well as running errands?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

And God bless that little elf as her eyes got wider and wider in happiness at the prospect of having so much work to do. Even Tilly was starting to look a little envious.

"Rilney can be doing it sir! She would be the happiest elf to have so much to do!" The excitable little elf said.

Severus rolled up his metaphorical sleeves and disregarded the fact that he was naked except for the towel around his waist with casual ease. 'Let's do this.' He thought to himself.

"Then I would be honored to accept you as my house elf Rilney… Now how do we- "

He was interrupted as Rilney squeaked in excitement and grabbed his hand. As soon as the wizard and elf made contact a brief, but thankfully not blinding, flash of light enveloped the room for a moment. When he looked again, he noticed Tilly was wiping a tear away with a smile on her face and Rilney had practically glued herself to his leg as she thanked him profusely.

"You's saying you accept her was all that's needed. Thank you Mr. Snapey, thank you so much. Please take good care of him Rilney." Tilly said before she popped away.

"Alright Rilney it's alright." Severus soothed as he eased her off his leg. "I was just about to head over to Diagon Alley today and run some errands. So how about I get dressed first and-"

Rilney popped away and popped back in with a fresh set of clothes for him.

"And… Then will talk about what all elves are really capable of?" He finished when she got back in wide eyed amazement at her initiative. "That was awesome! Thank you Rilney, you're such a good elf." He praised as he took the offered clothes and started getting dressed.

She beamed in happiness at him as she slapped her hands over her eyes so as to protect his decency. "Master is thanking Rilney? Master is so kind!"

Once he finished dressing and the two made their way into the bedroom, he pulled the chair from his desk and sat down in reverse fashion so he could lean forward with his arms on the backrest.

"So Rilney, what all can house elves do? I learned some of the impressive things you're capable of from the Hogwarts house elves when I visited the kitchens. But I'd like to hear from you." Severus asked politely.

"Elves can be doing most household chores with a snap of the fingers. Elves are able to do more work and are able to anticipate master's needs when the bond is strong enough." She started.

"How does an elf and a master have a strong bond?" Severus asked in curiosity. He felt it was important to know the exact mechanics behind it so he could avoid weakening it inadvertently.

"The more a master or family care for an elf, the stronger the elf becomes because they can use more magic from the bond." She helpfully explained.

"Ah I see. I also noticed your speech has improved since we bonded. Is it because of how grateful I am to have you as my elf, and that we already have a strong bond?" Severus asked.

Rilney nodded bashfully. "I am very happy to know master is happy to have me. I promise not to let you down sir! Elves can't lie to their masters and always have to follow orders. Some bad elves will try to work around orders however." She scowled at the end, no doubt thinking about how such an elf would be worthless.

"We can be invisible for as long as we want, most wizards like to not see elves as they work unless called for." She continued with her explanation of what elves can do. "We can pop to our master when called, no matter where they are. Wizards never make a ward to stop elf popping, only goblins."

Severus was happy to hear that information. The unassuming little things really were vastly underutilized from what he remembered of the books.

"We can also be taking a person or two with us when we pop." She said as if just remembering that they could do so.

He smiled widely. "That's brilliant Rilney!" Severus said with genuine excitement. "Do you think you can pop me over to Diagon Alley in a moment?" He asked.

"Yes I can master Severus Snape sir!" She said excitedly.

"Just Severus is fine Rilney, with any luck we're going to be together for life." He said distractedly as he removed one of the gems from his mokeskin pouch. He didn't notice how Rilney almost literally burst in joy at his admission that she would get to serve his family indefinitely.

"Alright I'm ready." Severus said while holding out his hand to his new elf.

Rilney took his hand, and Severus wished dearly that he had closed his eyes as space seemed to bend and twist around them. He was thankful that it began and ended in a moment, because he wasn't sure if he could take reality having the appearance of an abstract painting for very long without freaking out.

When everything snapped back into place he recognized where he was as the apparition entrance into Diagon Alley thanks the Severus' memories from his mother taking him a time or two, including his school supply shopping trip last summer.

Severus looked around and took in the sights of the few people going about their day. No one paid him any attention and that was fine by him. Looking around for Rilney, he grew concerned when he didn't see her in the immediate vicinity, but calmed down when he remembered how they can be invisible whenever they wished.

"Thank you Rilney." He said quietly with a soft smile, knowing that she would hear him.

Setting off at a sedate pace, the young man nodded politely at the two goblin guards standing at attention at the base of the steps leading to Gringotts.

He opened the doors and took in the sight of the surprisingly high ceiling, clean polished floors, and the two long rows of connected desks that were on either side of the entrance. Sitting at various points behind the desks were goblin tellers, sitting on chairs that are _just_ high enough to put them slightly above eye level with the average adult wizard, either helping people or going about their daily tasks.

'Clever.' Severus thought to himself. 'Using something like the height of chairs to subliminally tell everyone they deal with that they are in a position of authority over them. I wonder if they did that on purpose with that thought in mind? Or if they are just trying to spite wizards and witches in whatever petty way they can?'

Pushing those thoughts aside for later, Severus made his way up to the first available teller that didn't look like he had enough to do if the bored look on his face was any indication.

"Good afternoon." Severus started off politely to get the teller's attention.

The goblin looked up from behind the desk and took in Severus' appearance. After giving the wizard child a once over, he looked behind him and turned his gaze to give a quick sweep of the main hall of the bank looking for the child's parents. Not seeing anyone, he concluded this wizard must have come in on his own and turned his attention back to him.

"What can Gringotts do for you today? Don't waste my time child." The teller said with about as much civility as one would expect from a goblin.

"Ah good. First I was wondering if there is a list or brochure of the services that Gringotts offers?" Severus asked with a smile and easily ignoring the goblin's rude tone.

Pleasantly surprised at the young wizard getting right to the point without any useless posturing, he decided the most expedient method to getting rid of this wizard so he could get back to work would be to answer his questions. But it was a nice change to deal with a wizard that didn't try to insult or belittle his people, and was genuinely interested in what the bank had to offer.

So, reaching down under his desk he pulled out one of the public copies of Gringotts' rules and regulations and handed it over to the dark haired wizard.

Severus noticed how the pamphlet was more like a _book_ and would take some time to get through. Luckily he had the more pressing questions ready just in case they didn't even _have_ an information packet.

"Thank you, just a few quick questions and I'll be out of your hair. What is the exchange rate of pounds sterling to galleons and conversion fees?" He asked without giving the goblin a chance to say no.

"Approximately five pounds to a galleon and a three percent conversion fee. They do fluctuate though so it's always good to check." The goblin answered on autopilot. He was simply stunned that a wizard child had thought to ask about the fees. That was something wizards and witches liked to pretend didn't exist until they saw it on their bank statements, and then they liked to complain about how outrageous and unfair they were and try to bully their way out of not having to pay them. Goblins everywhere lamented, not at the stupidity of wizards in this situation, but at all the wasted time that could have been better spent doing literally anything else instead of arguing over something that's been bank policy since its founding.

Goblins had long since become accustomed to wizarding idiocy, that was just a fact of life to them at this point really. What truly bothered them though was how wizards could come in and complain about the same fees that they complained about every other time they came in to do business with the bank. It seemed like every one of them acted like it was something new the goblins came up with the day before just to fuck with them.

The wizard in front of the goblin smiled again. "Thank you that's very helpful. I'll understand if you can't give me an in depth answer for this next question, so a yes or no will suffice for now until I look it up on my own time." He said as he tapped the Gringotts guidelines in his hands. "Would it be at all possible for me to set up my own vault, that only I can access? I don't want my parents or anyone else to know about it or be able to withdraw from it without my consent." Severus asked.

"You would… So long as you can pay the maintenance fees we'll protect your gold from anyone, even the ministry." The goblin teller said slowly as he digested the question. "Are you concerned your parents will take your money? Why?" He asked in curiosity.

Severus blinked owlishly and cocked his head to the side as he regarded the goblin. "Because people are greedy?" He said leadingly.

This caused the goblin to burst out in laughter. Of course people are greedy! He'd forgotten that just because goblins don't steal from their own children didn't mean that other races wouldn't.

"I suppose that's true." The teller chuckled once he got himself under control. "Was there anything else you wanted to ask little wizard?"

"Do you buy gems and jewelry?" He asked.

"We do." The goblin said amenably.

Before he could say anything else, the wizard pulled out a sizable clear sapphire with a very small crack in it and placed it on the desk in front of the teller. "How much would you give me for this."

Now knowing better than to ask questions like 'where did you get this?', the goblin plucked it up as he fished out his loupe so he could properly appraise it. It was a rather nice piece and the crack was small and shallow enough that it could easily be cut down a little to remove that flaw.

He was just about to quote him a price when he was struck with a sudden thought. Was this little wizard _testing_ Gringotts? Going over the conversation they just had, and disregarding the fact that the young man was underage, it seemed like he was 'shopping around' so to speak.

'Well, no matter.' The goblin thought to himself. Contrary to what many wizards will tell you, Gringotts is exceedingly fair and above board, both when it comes to facilitating business transactions and keeping everyone's money safe. And that was saying something considering how they had the monopoly on banking for the wizarding world.

So he would handle this the same way as if it was anyone else, with no special treatment, and trust that the wizard in front of him would make the right choice and use Gringotts for all his future needs. It's not like he could go anywhere else really.

The goblin teller was surprisingly close to the mark when it came to what Severus was doing. The black haired wizard had already gone to the local pawn shop and jewelers in Cokeworth in order to price check this exact same gem in preparation for today. He wanted to have an idea of how much it was worth so he would know if he was getting a good deal, or if he was getting taken to the cleaners.

On that note, Severus was uncomfortably reminded of just how powerful magic can really be with only a small application. In both of the stores he visited he had to confundus the proprietors just so they would think of him as an adult and take him seriously. A small application of legilimency to confirm that they were giving him an accurate accounting of how valuably the sapphire was, followed by obliviating the knowledge that he was ever there to finish off his information run.

It was a pleasant surprise to find that security cameras still hadn't caught on yet and become widespread enough to have at least one in every store and street corner. That was one less thing to worry about, but brought up a whole slew of other realizations, like how muggles are so woefully under protected against the arcane. He could only assume that Aurors would investigate the possibility of magic being used to commit theft against something like a muggle bank. But then how would they even know magic was involved if a witch or wizard was careful enough to cover their tracks? What if an unscrupulous wizard decided to imperious a wealthy muggle to hand over all their assets and then killed or obliviated them? They would be in the wind with no real way to track them down, or even know that magic had been involved in the first place. It's not like a muggle victim can file a report with the DMLE.

And British wizards are notorious for not understanding how the muggle world works at all; he'd seen this first hand with his year in Hogwarts. They wouldn't even know where to begin to catch a criminal who had a foot in both worlds. He would have assumed there was some sort of underground element like the mafia that he was unaware of keeping a tight rein on the situation. But that was discarded by virtue of people like Mundungus Fletcher who bumbled around and made a barely passable thief who, for some reason, only really stole from wizards and witches, ignoring the easy access to muggle wallets… Unless he was a modern day wizard equivalent of the twisted lipped man and his whole grungy appearance was a clever ruse?

But those were thoughts for another time. Severus had some galleons coming his way that he already had plans for.

The goblin 'hmmd' for a little bit more before he set it on the desk between them and looked at Severus, "If it was in perfect condition, I'd say I could give you one hundred and fifty galleons easily. But with the small crack in it I couldn't do more than a hundred and twenty." He said.

"Excellent, I'll take it." Severus said knowing he was getting a fair deal.

The teller only grunted in acceptance before he started counting out galleons on the table for him in stacks of ten. Severus notices how much physical space it actually takes up and decides to ask about options for carrying it around. He'd left his mokeskin pouch at home, just because no one could take anything out of it but him, didn't mean they would know that if they stole it from him anyway.

"Do you happen to have something that's bigger on the inside so I can carry it around with me?" He inquired.

"We have pouches that come in various expanded sizes as well as different protections." The goblin answered.

"I'll take something basic then. Just a pouch bigger on the inside for now and I might upgrade it to something better another day." Severus said.

The goblin pulled out a small black bag that looked like a coin purse that would fit in his palm and pocket comfortably and placed it on the counter. "A standard pouch will be four galleons." He said while finishing counting out his golden coins.

"Take six then as a thank you for your time." Severus said, pushing the coins to the helpful bank clerk.

"Mhmm it was my pleasure wizard. Have a good day and get out." The goblin said, dismissing him.

Severus was in a good mood knowing that his trip to Gringotts had been productive and went so well.

He set off to complete his shopping list for the day. Severus already planned to save the apothecary for last as he knew without a doubt he'd spend every sickle and knut he had there if given half a chance. And so he started with what he figured would be the fastest stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies.

Once inside he blew past all of the broom displays and made a bee line to the quidditch balls, namely the bludgers and snitches. Those marvels of enchanting ingenuity had him intrigued and he couldn't wait to unravel them. All the other quidditch stores sold mostly second hand things but he needed a set of quidditch balls that were new so the enchantments were factory fresh in order to examine them.

The bludgers were fairly cheap at only two galleons a piece, but a snitch ran for a whopping five all on its own. He saved himself a galleon and some sickles by buying a full set and had Rilney pop it back to his house. He wasn't sure what he would do with a quaffle yet but he might find a use for it. Maybe in trying to recreate an enchantment from one of the other balls.

The next stop for Severus was Obscurus Books. Even though he had access to one of the most impressive hidden libraries in the world during the school year, he'd left a lot behind, only taking copies of enough texts to keep him busy for the summer. But he wanted to compare and see what the latest books on the shelves had compared to those from a bygone era. It was partly curiosity to see how often things were innovated, and partly because in his excitement for the rituals he planned on doing he neglected to bring a single book on enchantments.

Enchanting objects was something that he felt might actually be useful here. There are common, everyday things that are enchanted ranging from quidditch, flying motorcycles, all the way to… whatever shenanigans people got up to that necessitated a whole department in the ministry that Arthur Weasley will eventually be the head of.

And if the future marauders could make such impressive things like a map that can show where everyone is in real time in an area as big as Hogwarts, then Severus could do truly incredible things by borrowing ideas from various forms of entertainment in his past life. He might have included the ever useful communication mirrors that the marauders were supposed to have but he couldn't for the life of him remember if they made them or if they were family heirlooms.

He found one book, Enchanted: An Introduction, that looked like it would keep him busy in what little down time he left for himself; then headed off to the Apothecary. Not to be confused with Slug and Jiggers, the potions supply store that most Hogwarts students go to. This stores actual name _is_ Apothecary, and has a wider range of ingredients, and the added bonus of a special order catalog for difficult and hard to find reagents. That would come in handy in the future.

True to his prediction, he left the store with a completely empty money pouch, a shopping list with everything crossed off of it and then some, and a self-satisfied smile on his face. A good chunk of his money went to a specialized cabinet that would keep every possible ingredient from spoiling or going bad. Also a whole set of pewter, bronze, and gold cauldrons. Each one being better suited for different types of potions for people who wanted the best quality.

Unfortunately they didn't have any fire crab shell cauldrons in stock, but that was no big loss at the moment. Severus was still a little ways off before he'd feel comfortable brewing high end potions that could benefit from the magical properties of that particular cauldron.

Rilney had already sent all his purchases home and so he wandered down Diagon Alley, window shopping, until he got to the public apparition point and called for his ever faithful house elf to take him home.

 **HBE**

"Rilney made an early supper for Master Severus since he skipped lunch today." She said as she ushered him to a seat at the dining table where a beautifully cooked steak, baked potato, and steamed vegetables awaited him.

He didn't need any further prodding when his stomach grumbled as the delectable smell hit his nose. "Thank you Rilney it looks and smells great!" He said with genuine enthusiasm before tucking in and cutting into the perfectly cooked meat first.

By the end of the meal he was well and truly satiated. Polishing off the last few morsels he was struck by a sudden thought that he was compelled to ask about. "Rilney… When did we get steak?" Severus asked in his curiosity.

"The Hogwarts elves dropped off plenty of food when I was accepted today. They were concerned Master Severus not be eating enough." She answered as she snapped her fingers and the cleaned plate vanished to the sink.

"Thank you Rilney, I'm truly lucky to have you. Please give my thanks the next time you see any elves from Hogwarts." He complimented causing the elf to blush and pop away to continue cleaning the formerly abandoned house they had taken up residence in with a renewed vigor.

Severus spent the rest of the night trying to bang out his summer homework in order to get it out of the way, clearing his schedule for more important things. Try as he might, he still found it difficult to focus with thoughts of getting more powerful, brewing more potions, and trying out some rituals he read about in the few books he brought home with him.

He leaned back and sighed, employing occlumency to clear his thoughts and set them aside for later so he could focus on the task at hand.

 **HBE**

A few days later saw Severus and Rilney outside in the back yard on a sunny day. But they weren't there to enjoy the nice weather, at least in Severus' case. He was here to get a baseline for his physical abilities in order to get an accurate measurement in his pre-ritual state.

Rituals had fascinated him as soon as he cracked open a book from the founder's era, co-written by all four of them in varying degrees. Rowena Ravenclaw was the greatest contributor by far, followed closely by Slytherin, then Helga and Godric adding in their notes on the few that interested them.

In point of fact, before the rise of wands and other foci, rituals, alchemy/potions, and runes were the prevalent means of magic from the ancient world. This was exemplified with anecdotal accounts from all over the world with things such as the power of sacrifice from the Aztecs. Tribal tattoos that augmented warriors and shamans from different cultures on separate continents. Elixirs such as love and luck potions that promised anything the heart desired. Even sex magic rituals that doubled for promoting a good harvest and fertility.

Much of this was collated by the founders from the areas that they were aware of and could travel to at the time. Many of the rituals in the handwritten book were accompanied by stories about their experiences in this area of magic. One of the most humorous ones was about how Salazar Slytherin had used Re'em blood in a strengthening ritual without telling any of the others so he could win a contest of strength against his friend and rival Godric Gryffindor.

Thankfully whatever spells were layered on the books from Rowena's library kept everything updated so all the text is understandable for whomever visited the room. It took him longer than he would have liked to puzzle out that's what it must have been. Some of the books from the actual Hogwarts library were still in Old English after all, yet he could read older books from Rowena's library like they were written with modern vernacular.

That didn't help with some of the descriptions however. For example even though the instructions on how to perform the rituals are thorough and carefully explained, the details for the effects can be infuriatingly imprecise. The only passage that he had for a frame of reference as to just how strong Salazar became was one that said, _'I feel like I have the strength of twenty men! Godric could only carry his log for a half lap around the lake while I ran a full two before I got bored of rubbing it in. The look on his face will be a treasured memory and the scolding from Helga was worth it.'_ And that was it.

How strong was that really? Was it the strength of twenty _average_ men? Because Severus remembered how there were professional weight lifters who could lift something ridiculous like five to six times more than the average person. The accounting didn't even mention how big or heavy the logs were! Just assumed that everyone would know what the standard was back then.

It was these little things that Severus continued to nitpick on, but one thing was certain though. All four of the founders truly lived up to their legend if even a tenth of the accounts in this book were accurate. Here was Salazar himself walking around like goddamned superman and none of them batted an eye.

That particular story from the past was just one of many excerpts from a common ritual they had all undergone multiple times. That's right, multiple.

While most rituals are only intended to be used once to bestow a permanent effect, this one was one of the rare few that could be done over and over with each time giving something different. The animal spirit ritual the founders learned from an African shaman was later perfected with some advanced arithmancy by Rowena.

By sacrificing a mundane animal, the witch or wizard, or in the original case even squibs, could gain some of the properties and power of the sacrifice. They used cheetahs, and antelopes to increase their speed. Hippos and Elephants for strength and endurance.

What the shamans didn't know, and what Rowena discovered, was that it could be used more than once. Squibs didn't have enough magic to handle more than one use in their lifetime, but wizards and witches could use it again and again so long as they had sufficient down time in-between each use proportional to the power of the animal used.

What Godric and Salazar had discovered was that magical creatures could be used for even greater enhancements. Through their experiments they found that they didn't even need to sacrifice an entire magical creature if it was magically powerful enough, some of the blood or hair from the creature would be enough to satisfy the requirements. That made plenty of sense to Severus when he considered that wand cores used such a comparatively small material, yet had enough power to last a magical for life.

The only real drawback was that the ritual would only bestow the strongest abilities and traits of the sacrifices. What this meant was that if he used one weaker animal for its abilities, and then later used a greater, possibly magical version of the same kind, then the first would be overridden because of its redundancy.

Either way Severus was excited to get started. But first he wanted to test it out by starting small and keeping accurate records. And that's why this bright and sunny morning found Severus in the backyard dressed in shorts and a t-shirt going over how to work a stop watch with Rilney.

"Alright are you ready Rilney?" The dark haired boy asked.

The little house elf nodded vigorously before answering, "Yes Master Severus."

He took a ready position at the starting marker he placed on the ground, and when he was ready, took off at a full sprint to the other marker twenty meters away.

Huffing only slightly at the exertion and marveling at much easier it was to run in a young body with seemingly boundless energy.

"Time?" He asked.

"Three point twenty nine Master Severus." The elf dutifully informed him.

He nodded and took up another starting position to go back the way he came. "Excellent. A few more times so we can get an average and then we'll move on to testing my reaction time."

After nine more consistent runs and a short water break, Severus had Rilney bring out the quidditch balls he bought from his trip to Diagon Alley. He was interested in playing around with their enchantments, but since he already had them he could put them to use for something closer to their intended purposes.

"Alright Rilney. I'm going to set these bludgers loose and see how long I can dodge them to test my baseline reactions." Severus explained with an excited smile lighting up his face.

"M-master Severus sir! You can't! Bludgers are dangerous!" She said in worry while wringing her ears in despair as she pleaded with him.

'She does have a point.' He thought to himself as he rubbed his chin. Turning his attention from his house elf back to the quidditch set in front of him he decides to allay her fears somewhat. "You're right Rilney. They are dangerous." He conceded before reaching down and rapping his knuckles on one of the squirming iron balls that were, even now, trying to break free from the chains holding it in place.

"So we'll just use one bludger for now. Are you able to get some form of control over the ball by any chance?" Severus asked.

Rilney brightened right up at the chance to help keep her master even just a little bit safer. She moved over to the quidditch set and a look on concentration overtook her features for a moment. "I can a little master. If I concentrate I can pick what the ball goes after and I can stop it if I need to." She says in relief.

"Alright Rilney." He said while moving into the middle of the yard. "Get the stop watch ready and let her rip." He says with just a slight amount of trepidation as he crouches down a little and keeps himself loose so he can move when he needs to.

Rilney gives a firm nod and unlatches the restraints holding one of the bludgers in place while simultaneously clicking the watch to start the time.

For the first time in Severus' life he finally understood the feeling a deer gets when it's confronted with headlights on an empty stretch of road. The only thoughts that went through his head were along the lines of, 'Wow forty miles an hour is faster than I thought.' And, 'That is a solid iron ball that can easily break bones traveling at that speed.' And finally, 'This seemed like such a great idea at the time.'

Luckily for the ambitious Slytherin, natural instincts kicked in and he twisted his torso while throwing himself to the side right as the ball of pain passed him by.

Heart beating in his chest and blood pounding in his ears, he had just enough presence of mind and was about to call for Rilney to stop the bludger, when he noticed with dread as it stopped in midair and reversed itself on a dime and flew right for him again.

He didn't have time to dodge it fully this time. In his panic he fell back and to the side, but the bludger clipped him on his right shoulder causing him to spin around and fall in an undignified heap.

Rilney stopped the bludger immediately and rushed to her master to make sure he was alright.

Groaning on the ground and holding his throbbing shoulder, Severus glanced up to see Rilney holding her hands above him and a soft green light flowed down and into him. As soon as the light made contact his pain was instantly soothed giving way to a dull throbbing sensation.

"Thank you Rilney." Severus offered with a smile.

The little house elf didn't share his mood however as she hauled her hand back and smacked him on his recently healed, still slightly tinder shoulder causing him to yelp in shock.

"Rilney _told_ master it was dangerous! Rilney warned master he could get hurt!" She berated, slipping back into addressing herself in the third person as she continued to babble.

"Rilney… Rilney… RILNEY!" Severus shouted finally getting her attention. "Thank you Rilney, I'd be lost without you."

Rilney nodded with unshed tears in her eyes left over from her worry, still not trusting herself to speak after having argued and even struck her master, she felt she didn't deserve to serve someone so kind who was grateful for her looking out for him. A small part of her still worried that he would dismiss her, especially over her behavior just now. But instead he just thanked her and carried on.

"So… What was my time? Go ahead and be brutally honest, I already know it probably wasn't great." He questioned.

Now Rilney was really wringing her ear in a nervous habit when she was worried, but she knew it was best to come clean. "I forgot the stop watch master. I was just so worried." She confessed.

"Oh well." Severus shrugged with his good shoulder. "I guess will just have to try again." He said before noticing the dangerous look in Rilney's eye that promised him a scolding if he was going to continue with what she perceived as foolishness. "At like… Half speed?" He suggested sheepishly.

She crossed her arms and continued to give him the look. "It's still dangerous Master Severus."

"Well it's either that or I have you magically throw dodgeballs at me." He said.

She smiled widely and said excitedly while bouncing up and down, "I can do that!" And popped away without another word.

"Bollocks." He muttered when he realized he'd given her a better alternative. He stood up and dusted himself off, stretching and rotating his shoulder to test it and found it was perfectly fine. Not a trace of soreness or tenderness at all anymore.

Rilney popped back bringing a large basket filled with over a dozen red rubber balls and beamed happily at Severus.

He stared at the dodge balls in amazement that she actually went out and got them so fast. "I give up. Where did you get them?" He asked in curiosity.

"I borrowed them from the local school." She answered simply.

Severus could only shrug. It's not like they'd be keeping them indefinitely. "Alright then. Start throwing them at me one at a time at a medium speed and keep increasing the pace until I can't keep up anymore."

A half hour later, Severus was laying on his back panting and sweating in exhaustion. Spots all over his body were stinging where he had failed to dodge, the most prominent was a bright red mark on his face from when Rilney upped the pace again.

"Okay, I think that's enough. I'm about ready to try this ritual out now." He winced as he dragged himself up and started walking to the house to get cleaned up.

Rilney had proven herself invaluable yet again when he told her what he wanted to try. She didn't question him, or even try to talk him out of it. In fact the next day she proudly introduced a stray cat she trapped in a cage to him, saving him the trouble of finding one himself.

Severus decided beforehand he wanted to start off with something small and mundane, then trying a magical equivalent a few months later to get an approximate measure of how large the increase is between the two. He wasn't sure what magical equivalent he would use for a cat just yet, but a stray cat wouldn't be missed nearly as much as a bull. Besides if he used a bull for augmenting his strength then he would need Re'em's blood for the next level and that stuff was notoriously hard to get ahold of.

He was also somewhat surprised by Rilney's casual acceptance that he was going to be sacrificing an animal, when asked she only shrugged and said there were lots of animals but she only had one master. And if he had to sacrifice a few so that he could be stronger, and therefore safer, then she was happy to help.

Having cleaned up he walked into one of the spare rooms that he'd set up to perform rituals. Looking around he made one final check up to make sure the symbols around the circle were perfect and that everything was in order.

Satisfied that everything was perfect, he swallowed his nervousness over actually going through with it, stripped down to nothing and stepped into the circle.

Rilney popped in and handed him the stray cat that had been docile since they started feeding it. Rilney gave one final nod and moved outside the room to wait for her master to finish. Severus took one final deep breath and started to chant.

He started off slowly, building up the tempo until, before he knew it, the runes around the circle were glowing a luminescent white. So distracted he came back to himself just in time to realize that he had never broken pace with the chanting and was doing so automatically. He internally breathed a sigh of relief, at least it was true that once started, rituals wanted to be completed.

The cat had struggled for just a moment before the magic seized it, and drained the animal of its essence quite quickly. It ceased struggling and closed its eyes as it died, transferring the inborn reflexes and dexterity that all cats have to Severus.

Turning to dust in his hands, the last of the sacrifice exploded in a shower of dust as the last of its essence flowed into Severus' body. He could feel his magic making changes to his body, as directed by the sacrifice.

Winded, exhausted, and sweaty, the dark haired boy who just completed his first ritual stepped out of the circle and called for his house elf. She came in immediately and started fussing over him, drying him off and helping him move to his bedroom. A snap of her fingers at some point saw him clothed in summer pajamas.

His head hit the pillow before he knew it and he was out like a light as the ritual continued to make changes to his body, empowering him with all the grace of a cat. He smiled in his sleep, dreaming of just how agile he would become. He'd show those bludgers who was boss tomorrow.

 _Preview of the next chapter:_

 _Severus was enjoying another stunning breakfast made by Rilney, when an owl winged its way in through the open window and landed in front of Severus. He swallowed the last mouthful of food as the owl imperiously held out its leg with a letter attached._

 _"That's odd. Who would be sending me... mail..." He trailed off as a pit of dread settled in his stomach as he remembered he promised to write Narcissa as soon as he could this summer. Sure enough, he recognized her handwriting when he opened the letter after taking it from the owl and handing it a left over piece of bacon._

 _"She is going to be so pissed at me." He lamented._

 **A/N: Thank you all again for taking the time to give this story a chance and I hope you're enjoying it so far. I've read every review and promise to work harder and get better in order to bring you all a quality, well written story.**

 **One helpful review pointed out that Lily was supposed to be in tears on her first train ride to Hogwarts because of her sister Petunia calling her a freak. All I can say is you caught me out. I made simple mistake forgetting if that happened, and all I can say is you can use whatever behind the scenes reason you want for why Lily wasn't crying when she found Severus on the train. This does bring up a fun fact though, the first ever rough draft of this story started out with Snape waking up in the hospital because of accidental magic that killed his father, saving his mother and him from the abuse. I was trying to work out how Severus would hide everything he would be doing from his loving mother until I did more research and found out his mom didn't actually care all that much for him. That was like… problem solved right there. And now here we are.**

 **As always all reviews, favorites, and follows are greatly appreciated.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Someone pointed out that when I'd left a plot hole of Lily not crying on the Hogwarts express, I didn't need to say something about letting the readers fill in whatever blanks they wanted. Almost immediately after reading that I got a great idea and decided on what I wanted to. So many thanks to DragonReader18. I missed out on an opportunity to pull a Jojo where I pull off something amazing and everyone goes 'HOLY SHIT did you plan this too?!' and I laugh nervously but with a confident grin and striking a wildly impractical pose 'Of course I did! I plan everything from the very beginning!'.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. And I'm still a little upset that fanfiction writers everywhere have to say things like that. I firmly believe it should just be implied at this point.**

 **Warning: This story will contain adult situations and language.**

 **Half-Blood Emperor**

 **Chapter 5**

Severus Snape stretched languidly from his position on the bed, arching his back and reveling in the pleasant sensation. Once he was done with that, and shook off the desire to go back to sleep, he slipped out of bed and changed out of his sleepwear and into some casual clothes that Rilney had left out for him neatly folded on the chair. In his past life, he was a huge stickler for following a morning routine of brushing teeth and showering before doing anything else.

Now that he was reborn in this new life of an adolescent wizard on summer break, he finally managed to break his habit and push off his daily ablutions until later in the day. More specifically _after_ he'd get any brewing done. Especially if he didn't have any obligations to be in the presence of people today.

The dark haired young man padded his way down stairs, not even bothering to stifle his yawn as he made his way to the dining room and sat down. He'd barely touched the chair when there was the sound of fingers snapping, and an array of delicious smelling breakfast foods appeared in front of him in the same vein as if he were back at Hogwarts.

"Good morning, and thank you Rilney."

"Good _afternoon_ master, and you're welcome." The elf greeted him with levity while correcting him, though he could detect the hint of relief in her voice that he was up and about after a good night's rest. Checking the time, he found it was twelve oh one on the dot, cheeky little bugger.

'Hmm so I slept in? Well at least I feel good now. No lingering pains or bruises from yesterday.' He mentally cataloged.

He finished one cup of tea before finally tucking into his first meal of the day. All the while making a mental note to get some coffee. There was nothing wrong with real English tea, in fact it was quite good, but it just didn't have that powerful, robust flavor that required generous helpings of cream and sugar to get down. That was to say nothing of the caffeine buzz such a beverage would bring.

'Another mental note: See about getting Starbucks going early. And get in on the ground floor of it while I'm at it.' Thinking of yet another profitable future investment. He was a little on the fence about this one though, not really being sure if people will be ready for something like that in this time period. Even now, it was still too easy to forget just how many things happened before he was even born in his past life, that hadn't even been a thought in this current point in time.

Star Wars wasn't even a thing yet!

He mechanically ate while wracking his brain on what year the first Star Wars movie comes out. Would he already have graduated from Hogwarts before then?

Less than an hour later, Severus and Rilney could be found outside setting up what little equipment they would be using for today.

First up was the flexibility testing. And to say the improvements were impressive would have been a drastic understatement. Were before, when he reached both arms behind his back, one above and one below, he was able to easily touch finger tips.

Now? He could just barely clasp his wrists.

When he bent down to touch his toes the previous day and had to strain to do so; he could now place both palms flat on the ground.

The raven haired boy was grinning in excitement at the very visible increase in basic flexibility, and the proof that the permanent boost from the ritual worked as advertised.

They quickly moved on to the next test, the twenty meter dash.

Rilney was once again manning the stop watch after setting up the lines while Severus kept his breathing even as he slightly hunched over in the ready position.

"I'm good to go Ril." He stated.

Rilney gave a nod of affirmation and snapped her fingers creating a muffled bang sound to set him off while she started the stop watch.

It felt like he was flying. All of his muscles were moving with an optimized grace that he didn't have yesterday, aiding in his ability to cut through the air as he _moved_ to the goal line. And just like that, it was over in the blink of an eye.

Quite literally in Rilney's case. Luckily she was a good house elf, so no matter how impressive her master might be, she wasn't about to let him down. Especially in a task that he entrusted to her.

"Time?" Severus asked once he got over how amazing his new speed seemed.

"O-one point seven four master." She stuttered out. Even though she had seen it, it was a whole different level having the proof in numbers right in front of her.

"That's almost half the time." He mumbled to himself.

Shaking his head to get himself ready, he took a starting position again to run a few more times.

In the end, he was panting and slightly exhausted. It did make sense to him though, cats weren't known as endurance animals after all. But the explosive speed was something else altogether. The ritual enhancement to his body had concretely doubled his sprinting speed. It boded very well for what attributes of creatures he planned to use next in order to round out his abilities. And not just physical; he had a few ideas on being able to augment his intelligence if he can get ahold of something of a sphinx. And a more perverted part of his older self couldn't help but wonder just how effective veela hair might boost his natural charisma, laying the groundwork for his teenage years that were fast approaching him. It might even give him an aura to attract women.

Only ten minutes later found Severus bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet in anticipation. This was the moment of truth. The dreaded dodge ball exercise. He was eager to pit himself against it again and determined to put up a better showing than the day before.

Rilney snapped her fingers causing a few red balls to rise into the air around her as she began waving her arms around, taking control of them. She was worried about this part. Not that she feared for her master's safety, that's why they were using these rubber balls instead of his first idea to use iron bludgers. But her master had gotten so frustrated last time. She knew that Severus was just disappointed that even though they started off slow, it didn't take long at all before he just couldn't keep up. The loyal house elf just hoped that he will have improved here as much as in the other exercises. She hated seeing him upset.

Severus waved both hands in a 'come on' gesture, "Let's have it." He said simply.

And have it he did as Rilney sent one rubber ball after another in the same slow build up pace as before.

The ritually enhanced wizard focused on the incoming projectiles while keeping his breathing steady. 'Nothing fancy, no showing off or getting arrogant. I just need to do the bare minimum to not get hit.' He thought as he leaned out of the way of the first one.

The second one that was already half the distance to him altered course slightly in an attempt to intercept him in his new position. He waited until the last moment before twisting his upper body and leaning the other direction, allowing it to pass him by with an inch to spare.

Suddenly his ears perked up at the sound of displaced air and he somehow just _knew_ without even looking that the first ball was on a return trip right for him. Trusting his new instincts, he crouched down and felt the ball pass over him by a hairsbreadth.

His sensitive ears picked up Rilney's sharp gasp of surprise, but he had no time to revel in his small victory with the other ball bearing down on him. He rolled out of the way of this one.

Severus stayed in a low crouch with his feet spread wide, one hand touching the grass in front of him with his left out to the side for balance, ready to spring one way or the other when the next volley came. He was actually having a lot of fun with this now.

Rilney beamed happily at her master. He'd improved so much that he made it look effortless as he moved his body around to keep from being touched. He didn't even realize that she wasn't holding back anymore, well... not _much_ anyway.

She tried one last maneuver to catch him out by sending a few balls skimming close to the ground, forcing him to jump into the air. Just as she planned, another ball was already on an intercept course, and he should have no means of avoiding something now that he was air born.

Only he did. With a stunning feat of awareness and body control, he threw his hands and corkscrewed his body, causing the ball to cleanly miss him.

All of the balls dropped along with Rilney's jaw at the display while her masters body seemed to unconsciously correct itself on the way down so he landed lightly on both feet.

Severus meanwhile, was trying to catch his breath as he put his hands on his hips and looked around when no more dodge balls were heading for him. "Not bad." He managed to get out. To him, it seemed like they'd been at it for hours, when in reality it was just under five minutes.

"Cat like reflexes!" He said with a grin towards his house elf once he breathing was steady enough.

Rilney happily made him a snack before dinner along with a pitcher of ice tea. Afterwards, Severus enjoyed a nice, lukewarm shower to cool down from the days strenuous activities.

The next day saw Severus waking up earlier. He felt like today should be a lazy day of research. Now that he had to wait for his magic to finish adapting to the changes before he could perform another ritual in a few months. Because of that, he thought about taking a crack at enchanting. Not that he'd actually get anywhere with it today, maybe getting through one of the books he picked up in Diagon Alley so he can get a better understanding for making his own enchanted items.

Severus was enjoying another stunning breakfast made by Rilney, when an owl winged its way in through the open window and landed in front of Severus. He swallowed the last mouthful of food as the owl imperiously held out its leg with a letter attached.

"That's odd. Who would be sending me... mail..." He trailed off as a pit of dread settled in his stomach as he remembered that he promised to write Narcissa as soon as he could this summer. Sure enough, he recognized her handwriting when he opened the letter after taking it from the owl and handing it a left over piece of bacon.

"She is going to be so pissed at me." He lamented.

A quick snap of fingers and the last vestiges of his breakfast was cleared away, only to be replaced with a full complement of writing supplies.

"Master Severus didn't tell me he had people to write to."

"It kind of slipped my mind." He mumbled embarrassed at his forgetfulness, as he dips the available quill into the inkwell.

About this time, the bird had finished its treat and promptly flew out the window and away into the morning sky.

Severus stared after it for a few moments. "Well change of plans. Guess I need another trip to Diagon Alley today after all."

Quick on the up take, Rilney offered her help. "I can take your letter for you when you've finished Master Severus sir."

The dark haired young man turned a smile her way before responding. "Not this time Ril. Lots of people underestimate just how useful house elves are; and I don't want to disabuse them of that notion and lose our advantage. I need a proper mail owl anyway."

Rilney's little heart practically burst with joy at her master telling her how useful her, and her kind really are. And also at the fact he confided something so important to her. She nodded her head vigorously and popped away to clean the house with a renewed fervor.

After Severus finished the letter, he cleaned himself up and changed into more appropriate clothes for going out in. Slacks and a nice button up shirt. No casual wizarding robe to go over it sadly, but he didn't have one yet, and it was still summer so it was plenty warm outside. Besides, he's still a child in everyone's eyes so he has a little more leeway with such things; and it's not like he was going to a formal meeting or anything.

Once he was ready, Rilney popped next to him and offered her hand for him to take so she could pop him to the alley. He reached out, but hesitated a moment.

"Is something wrong Master Severus sir?" She asked.

"No, I just had a thought. Perhaps I should go and see if Lily's busy or if she would like to come." He said when he realized it would be the polite thing to do. Narcissa's letter had reminded him that he had been neglectful of people who were his friends... technically.

"That sounds wonderful Master Severus!" She happily exclaims while checking him over, making sure his clothes are neat, buttons buttoned, and shoes are tied.

He chuckles a little at her fussing over him. "Don't get too excited. I think her and I will take the knight bus. That way she'll have her own method of transportation without having to rely on me.

After giving Rilney his plan for the day, Severus pulled a few of the smaller precious gems and jewels that he set aside to be traded in first, and put them in his small expanded pouch that he'd gotten from his last trip to Gringotts.

He left out the front door and trusted Rilney to take care of the place while he was gone, and to be ready in case he called her for something. Not that anyone would be able to get to the house considering the simple muggle repelling ward he put up, and how unlikely it was that a random witch or wizard would pass by.

It was a fifteen minute leisurely stroll to Lily's house, in which Severus took the time to take in the good weather while it lasted.

'I really should get out more. People will think I'm a shut in if I stay inside researching all day. Bah! It doesn't matter what they think. I'm doing this so I'll be able to handle anything and live a life of ease and luxury.' He thought to himself. 'Besides, I only really care about the opinion of one person in the neighborhood who could call me out on it, and she doesn't actually know how much time I spend cooped up.'

The dark haired boy finally came to the tan colored house that his friend resided in, and rang the doorbell.

"Oh hello Severus." Petunia greeted him shyly when she answered the door.

Petunia Evans was Lily's older sister by one year. The girl on the cusp of puberty was somewhat plain with a comely face and long, brown hair that fell to the middle of her back. Right now she was still a young girl, and while Severus could see how, when she grows up, she could become a rather unpleasant woman with a too long neck and a long drawn face, she could just as easily become the cute girl next door type. He supposed it was all down to the life she might lead and if she takes care of herself.

"Good morning Petunia. Is Lily free today? I'm going to Diagon Alley and thought to ask if she wanted to come as well." He greeted, explaining why he was here a few days earlier than planned.

She very perceptibly frowned before answering in a hate filled tone. "She's here, I'll go get her."

'Oh that's right. She's crazy jealous that her little sister was blessed with the better looks between the two of them. And that she's _special_ by being a witch. Lily having magic, and all that entails, while she doesn't.' He thought.

Severus recalled the last time the three of them where together, and how Petunia was making her envy of Lily clear to see. He was pretty sure he said something about how a good sister would be supportive, or something along those lines in order to make the non-magic sibling feel guilty for being a prat. He just wanted her to knock it off with the snide comments at the time.

He was looking at her in a new light now though. Sadly it was through the lens of a potential test subject. Severus figured she was very likely a squib, and that opened up a whole realm of possibilities.

That would have to be put on hold for later though. She returned with Lily who promptly threw her arms around him in a warm hug.

"Hey Lily. I'm heading off to Diagon Alley today to pick up a few things. Thought I'd drop by and see if you'd like to come with?" He asked.

She squealed happily for twofold reasons. First was the ingrained genetics of women that made them love to shop; the second was for the fact that they were going shopping for _magical_ things in particular.

"Let me go ask my parents if they'll give us a ride. Be right back!" She said before Severus used his new and improved reflexes to grab her hand and hold her back before she could take off.

She turned back to him and looked at him questioningly. "Don't worry about transportation. I figured we'd take the knight bus and see what it's like."

He could feel the waves of giddy anticipation rolling off of her in droves. "That's brilliant! Let me go ask if I can go then." And she was off as soon as Severus let her go.

Severus chuckled in amusement, then turned his gaze to the scowling visage of Petunia. He could plainly see the hurt in her eyes as she tried to hold back tears, and thought that this would be a good time to get some practice in, and maybe make things a little better for the Evens sisters in the long run.

His voice got her attention and they made small talk about inconsequential things as he dived into her mind with legilimency. What he found there was just as he feared. A girl burdened by insecurity and jealousy. So he started making a few small tweaks here and there. Nothing too drastic that would be noticeable, but definitely setting her in a better direction.

The first thing he did was change the object of her jealousy. Now instead of being so focused on how Lily has magic and Petunia doesn't, she's more upset that Lily is better friends with Severus. It's a simple thing to make her now crave attention and approval from Severus, he's such a great guy after all. Lily won't stop talking about how cute and smart he is; and if _perfect_ Lily is so interested in something then it's only natural to be interested as well.

Severus loved it when he didn't have to make big changes and could just redirect and repurpose what's already there.

He made one last quick change when he heard Lily's rapid footsteps approaching. To Petunia, it would feel like her own idea.

If she wanted Severus to notice her, then she had to be better. She'd have to become the best she could be. The question then became, what could she do that Lily couldn't? Excelling in her mundane education would be a good start. 'Severus is obviously attracted to intelligent women, even if he doesn't know that about himself yet.' She thought.

Maybe she should take gymnastics? Petunia had heard some of the older girls in school who had boyfriends say that they liked flexible girls, whatever that meant.

To Severus, it would be a good test to see how far someone would take a mental nudge in a direction of something they might not have considered before. It would also be interesting to see what Petunia comes up with on her own and what she thinks will impress him. Depending on how well it goes, he might just have a valuable maid/secretary/bodyguard in the future.

"They said yes! Let's go Sev. Bye Tuni." Lily said in a rush as she grabbed hold of his hand and started dragging him away in her excitement.

"Bye Petunia." He managed to say with a small wave before turning around the right way to walk with Lily.

The two made their way to a secluded and quiet part just down the block.

"Well? How do we get the knight bus?" Lily asked with obvious exuberance.

"Don't worry, I'll show you." He said before taking one last look around to make sure there wasn't anyone in the vicinity.

Severus pulled his wand out of his makeshift wand holster on his left arm, just a simple leather band worn on his wrist that allowed his wand to remain tucked against the inside of his forearm, and held it up as though he were calling a taxi.

Lily kept her eyes locked on what he was doing, and because she was paying such rapt attention to him instead of the surroundings, she was taken completely by surprise from the sudden bang of the knight bus appearing on the street next to them.

"EEP!" She let out a strangled squeak and jumped what Severus would later swear at least a foot in the air.

When Lily calmed her racing heart somewhat, she had her breath taken away all over again when she laid eyes upon their transportation. It looked like the kind of bus one would see in the heart of London; if it didn't have _three_ decks instead of two that is... and if it wasn't something so eye catching as a vibrant purple.

"Welcome to the knight bus, a service for the stranded witch or wizard. Name's Ernie Prang and I'll be your conductor. Six sickles and elven knuts per person. For a sickle more you get hot chocolate, toothbrush, and warm towel." He recited quickly with the ease of long practice.

Severus took hold of Lily's hand this time and led the wide eyed girl up the steps. He reached into his pocket with his other hand, and pulled out his pouch, then pulled out his last galleon that was left over from his previous shopping trip and handed it over to Ernie.

"Are there lids for the hot chocolate or are they spelled to be spill proof?" He asked.

Ernie, for his part, seemed quite shocked that someone asked such a question before gathering himself and giving an answer.

"Err... No. Nothing of the sort." He said. 'Is that why no one ever wants the beverages?' He thought.

"Hmm. Pity. Do you want a warm towel or a toothbrush Lily?" Severus directed to his companion.

"Umm... No?" She said, still taking everything in.

"Just the change then please." The dark haired boy finished pleasantly and held his hand out.

"Where too?" The subdued bus driver asked.

"Leaky Cauldron." Severus said, already leading Lily to an empty seat.

"Next stop Leaky Cauldron! Be there in about two minutes!" Ernie called out to the sparsely populated bus.

The two children had barely gotten settled when the call came out, and the bus took off like a shot. It was a bumpy, twisty journey. All that could be seen of the outside were blurs as the industrialized landscape of Cokeworth was left behind.

'Yep... Everything I thought it'd be.' Severus thought as he held on to the seat trying not to be tossed out of it while Lily held onto his arm just a hair too tightly, giving away her nerves.

The ride ended and Severus was amused to see that Lily couldn't get off fast enough. Once the both of them where on the sidewalk of Charing Cross road, a loud bang signified the bus taking off to wherever its next destination was.

"That was... that was..." Lily tried to say, starting and stopping trying to find the words.

"A little bit of a bumpy ride I know. But what can you do?" Severus said.

"That was incredible!" Lily squealed as though she hadn't paid attention to a word her friend said.

Severus 'hmmd' at her questioningly as he held the door to the Leaky Cauldron open for her.

"It was like a muggle roller coaster ride. No! Even better! And that's just an everyday thing magicals use for transportation? I'm surprised more muggleborns don't pay to ride the knight bus for the sake of riding it." The red head bubbled excitedly.

Severus 'hmmd' in an agreeing tone this time as he led them to the alley behind the dingy pub and pulled his wand out to start tapping the correct sequence of bricks.

"I wonder what other kinds of things can be done with magic. What do you think people would want in a magical amusement park?" Severus asked out loud, both to himself and his friend.

"With the proper application of magic I'm sure muggle rides could be adapted to be even more fun when they don't have to adhere to the constraints of physics. Of course, safety can be easily increased as well to compensate." Lily said, really getting into the possibilities.

"Oh, oh and a petting zoo! Think of all the cute magical animals that young children can get to see." Lily continued going off on tangents of things that a magical theme park might need.

"I think those are all great ideas Lily. Definitely something we can do once we've finished school." Severus said, casually activating one of the imbedded neural triggers he'd put in Lily's head. It was already a natural human response that by using 'we' instead of 'I' or 'you' in conversation, to think of doing whatever was being discussed together. Severus made a small little modification to connect anytime Lily thought of the two of them together with pleasure. It would start off small, and the amount of pleasure Lily got would correlate to how positive the context of them being together was. Like Pavlov's dogs and positive reinforcement for desired behavior.

'I probably shouldn't compare what I'm doing with Lily to training dogs.' Severus thought to himself before shooting a glance in Lily's direction.

Sure enough, his childhood friend was blushing up a storm and had a goofy grin on her face when she noticed him looking at her. Lily's smile turned demure as her eyes looked anywhere but in his direction.

"I'd like that." She said in almost a whisper, but Severus heard.

"It's something to think about. We'll have to do something for income when we become adults, might as well enjoy it and have fun."

They made plans for Lily to browse Flourish and Blotts while Severus went to take care of business at the bank.

Said business only took five minutes, four of which was spent waiting in line for an available teller. He left another good impression on the goblins of Gringotts when he finally had his turn and upended his pouch, spilling three small, precious gems and starting off the haggling at five hundred galleons. The goblin countered with one hundred starting a back and forth until they met at three hundred and forty seven.

Severus met up with Lily and bought her a book on household charms she was interested in. Too say he was surprised that she wanted a book like that would be an understatement, but it was clarified when he got her talking about it.

As it turns out, she _wasn't_ interested in being a doting housewife just yet and getting a jump on what the wizarding world deemed as necessary skills for any young witch. Of course, the part of her that was still a child was fascinated with the possibility of finishing chores quickly and easily. The genius part of her however, was instantly enamored with the idea of animation charms. To be able to cast a spell and walk away, letting it run on its own until it either completes its task, or runs out of magic.

He was reminded that it was that beautiful brain of hers that drew him to her. He knew he made the right decision to alter the future and make her his, despite his wariness of changing things so much that they'd become unrecognizable.

Things are already too different now, he reasoned. Might as well go all in and really start stacking the deck in his favor. The first step would be to gently yet quickly mold Lily. To make her more receptive to his morally questionable activities. It would be best to start small, he'd already done a little bit with legilimency as a test to see what he could do with it. There were a few weeks left of summer that he could get in good practice with.

He needed to be careful to do it gradually though. Severus wanted to teach her occlumency eventually for her own defense, and that meant he would have to finish making any changes well before then. And that also meant that he'd need to be subtle and manipulate her into making the decisions he wants on her own. Luckily, another absurd factor of legilimency was that it could be such a light touch, that if done correctly, wouldn't leave a trace. There was no 'magical signature' residue left behind after a few hours; and if a mind healer were to look, all they would find was a person making their own choices that they came up with their own reasons for justification.

Sweet Merlin, how have telepaths like Charles Xavier not taken over the world in every iteration of literature? Probably because they were better human beings than the adult who'd taken over the body of a young wizard. It did make some sense now how Voldemort is supposed to do so well in the upcoming war.

Oh well, too bad for him. Severus knew, as soon as he fully realized his situation, that he would rule this world eventually. He wouldn't settle for anything less. He could use numerous excuses to justify it, but ultimately it would always boil down to _because he could_. The simple fact was, for all of Dumbledore and Voldemort's vaunted knowledge and power, it would amount to nothing to someone like Severus. And for a variety of reasons too.

The foremost of which being foreknowledge. Not just of how the future was supposed to play out, but because he understood them. How they think, what drives them, what they are capable of doing and how they will act given different situations.

Dumbledore is very much a general who leads from the rear. Sending off those who are young and impressionable to fight, and sometimes, die for 'the light'. He'll try and gather all the information that he can and use it ineffectively to save as many as he can on both sides of the war, because he knows how precious life is; and, on some level, believes everyone can be redeemed.

Severus also suspects that one of the many reasons he won't directly get involved in any battles isn't necessarily because he could lose ownership of the Elder Wand, but because he knows he's old and won't be around forever to fight the wizarding worlds battles for them. Then again, perhaps Severus is being overly optimistic of the old man there.

Either way, Dumbledore is most likely to use the law and diplomacy. Should those fail, the aged headmaster is then most likely to use people who are firmly loyal to him to get what he wants through manipulation. A direct confrontation is only really possible if someone were to march directly into Hogwarts, even then, one would still have to deal with the staff first. No matter what, it seems like Dumbledore will only deal with any given situation indirectly; using his titles and prestige to cow any opposition into submission. Riddle will sadly disabuse him of that always working.

Ah Riddle. The blunt bludger to Dumbledore's sharpened quill. If Severus didn't know any better he'd think that Voldemort had read 'The Art of War'. The soon to be revealed dark lord will have every level of the enemy, in this case the ministry, infiltrated with loyal minions. Say what you will about his brutal, terrorist tactics, but they will be effective. Studying his targets, striking in the dead of night by cutting off all forms of communication and evacuation, then using overwhelming numbers to completely wipe out a family overnight, topped off with leaving a giant neon calling card in the sky.

Rinse and repeat, over and over, again and again. It can lead to a very demoralizing position for anyone who opposes him, especially if you follow Dumbledore and he's so kind as to tie a hand behind your back by telling you not to kill anyone.

Severus mentally snorted, it's as if everyone forgets that they can use magic just as well to defend themselves. It's not like death eaters have a magic shield capable of stopping a killing curse. If everyone just made a one for one trade before they were killed in the war, the death eaters numbers and support would have dwindled quite quickly. Then again... not everyone is a vindictive asshole like Severus.

Besides, there was a lot that he just didn't have the time or inclination to process, like the number of death eaters attacking vs how well defended the average home could be made. Trying to put a conflict into numbers of woulda, coulda, shoulda, got messy fast and wasn't something he cared enough about to bother with.

No, Severus won't be bothering with the war at all in fact. Not until the later years if he's needed to step in and clean it up. Instead he'll be spending most of that time making sure that himself, and those that belong to him will be unassailable from both sides.

Part of the benefits of being reincarnated into the body of a wizard with the knowledge of an era far into the future is the wealth of ideas that comes with it. In his first life, he was a child of the entertainment media age. Because of something so simple and widespread as the internet, and how much _everyone_ had at their fingertips, now in the body of someone who could warp reality, he was virtually a bottomless pit of things he could make happen given enough time and effort.

Despite all that however, efficiency was the name of the game. He didn't have time to fool around or experiment with anything the wizards and witches just hadn't thought of yet. Instead he had to take what was already available, already proven in this world, and abuse the absolute shit out of it. That was why he was so grateful for the room of requirement and the library index. It was quick access to ridiculously overpowering rituals, notes on forgotten potions, and tomes upon tomes of magic that even this world hasn't seen in centuries.

It honestly felt like he put real life difficulty on easy _and_ put cheat codes in for easy leveling... 'Son of a bitch! I'm going to have to wait _forever_ for video games to catch back up to where I was.' His errant thought derailed his minor bout of obsessive power lusting.

He really needed to get laid to mellow him out, but it would be about a year and a half to two years before he could. Severus was counting the days, he missed sex so much. Puberty was already getting into full swing for him, he couldn't remember if this was earlier than in his previous life or not, but regardless, the soon to be second year Slytherin didn't think he'd be able to charm his way into girls knickers yet no matter how suave he was. Everyone sadly still thinks he's only twelve, and he had too much pride to mind control someone into sex. Delicate mental manipulation to make _them_ beg for it yes; imperious and obliviation no.

The jarring realization of how long he had to wait for all things electronic to get back up to speed did bring him back to thinking about the Voldemort and Dumbledore problem though.

Voldemort couldn't be trusted, and was absolutely insane. He had such potential to be great, that if he had only been more patient and less prone to violence, then he could have had the entire British wizarding society handed to him on a silver platter. Well, insanity was one of two possibilities. The other, and in Severus' mind more likely reason, was that Voldemort was greedy, selfish, and an idiot. Tom Riddle was known to engage his brain when he was a student because of necessity by being a halfblood in a pureblood house, and an assumed muggle born before that. But afterword when he graduated, he went on a pilgrimage of sorts to learn everything he could and gain more power.

There was nothing wrong with that, and no such thing as 'too much' power. But it's like he completely forgot all the skills, guile, and charisma that allowed him to become the king of Slytherin house. It would have been so easy for him to use his influence on the Wizengamot to get anything he wants; he could have ruled this place either from in the spotlight as minister, or from the shadows as a true master manipulator.

What does he do instead? He practically said 'Nah fuck it. I'm going to beat them all into submission with overwhelming force.'

Severus could only shake his head at the sheer stupidity of having every advantage and just tossing it aside for the high of making people fear you and bow down in supplication. But then, perhaps that's why Voldemort did it? Maybe all of this was just him getting back at the purebloods who made his first years in Hogwarts difficult, the halfblood Dumbledore who refused to help him when he asked, and all of the muggle born for their ignorance? Maybe it was because he just wanted everyone to kiss the hem of his robes?

In the end, Severus did have two aces up his sleeves. Time and anonymity. Even though Voldemort is already moving, Severus knew it will still be a few more years before it really erupts into war and drags everyone into it. And as for staying unknown, women aren't the only ones who see him as just another twelve year old wizard. To everyone who cares to look, he's just some unimportant halfblood in Slytherin who does really well in all his classes. A non-entity as far as everyone _important_ is concerned.

By the time the war is in full swing, and Severus is old enough for either side to consider recruiting, he will already be powerful enough to tell them they can go fuck themselves. And hopefully be immortal enough to get away with punching both the light and dark lords in the dick.

That should be doable. The easy part even. The hard part now was going to be keeping Narcissa and Bellatrix out of Voldemort's clutches.

If Severus recalled correctly then they would be forced into some kind of arranged marriage. The part he wasn't really sure on was if it was orchestrated by Voldemort as some sort of backroom deal, or if the Blacks would have done something similar anyway to strengthen alliances?

Bugger... looks like he'd have to tip his hand and get involved anyway. At least he still had the advantage of time. It should still be a few more years before negotiations even begin.

He came up with a few ways off the top of his head on how to handle the Blacks. The first, was if he could somehow convince the two remaining Black sisters to leave their family in order to do what they wanted, like when their oldest sister Andromeda eloped with a muggle born. But that had a lot of pitfalls that would need careful navigating to avoid. Not least of which was the fact that neither girl wanted to be cast out of the family. And Severus couldn't blame them for that, not just because the Blacks were a prestigious house, but because it was a tall order asking anyone to discard their pride in such a way, even if it is a way to avoid an undesirable fate.

The next option, funny enough, was taking the dark lord route. It's up to the head of house Black to make marriage contracts. No head of house, no contracts.

Of course this came with its own set of problems just like anything else. Someone else would just become the patriarch of house Black, and there was no guarantee they would be smart enough to let Bellatrix and Narcissa choose for themselves instead of trying to force them to be with someone unworthy.

It could very easily explode into a situation where being the head of house Black would be a fast way to catch a quick case of death. At least until it came down to either Sirius or Regulus. As much as Severus disliked the future Marauder, he could at least be counted on to not maliciously fuck over his cousins. And Regulus was still young. He could easily be shown that his cousin's happiness was in his best interest.

But all of that would be messy, and time consuming, not to mention that something could go wrong or just not pan out the way Severus hoped it might. Still a solid 'plan B' though.

The third way he thought up to help his future lovers, was probably the most effective. All he had to do was be the person chosen for Narcissa and Bella to marry. To do that, he'd have to be stupidly rich, which was going to happen regardless. Then, he also needed prestige and influence. This was also something attainable with his inventions and potions in the near future.

The only part that had him really stumped was how to get the family to betroth _both_ of them to him. Guess he'd just have to be extra rich and famous. Or a liberal application of mind control. Either worked for him.

It's not like he was the heir to multiple houses... "Wait a minute." Severus said aloud.

"What's up?" Lily asked, turning around from where she had be stroking the feathers of a common eagle owl, drawing a hoot from it when she stopped.

"Oh sorry, I was just lost in thought." Severus answered. 'Like what the Prince family tree is looking like these days?' His mother had run away with a muggle, and from the original Severus' memories, she never talked much about them, only mentioning his grandparents in passing.

Was his mother cast out of the family for marrying a muggle? Was Severus still a Prince or not? It was getting to late in the summer to dig up information on them. Perhaps he'd have Rilney look into his family while he was attending classes in Hogwarts and give her something to do.

"Well this owl at least seems to like you." His friend said, drawing his attention back to her.

Severus looked down and noticed that at some point, his hand had reached out to scratch the owl's plumage which the owl seemed to take great pleasure in.

He grinned. "Well the whole point of this trip was for me to get a mail owl."

The raven haired boy thought he'd said something wrong when Lily's green eyes went wide at his admission. His fears were short lived however when the corners of her mouth started twitching. She tried to stifle a giggle which caused her to snort, and then she completely lost the battle to keep from laughing her heart out.

"Oi, what's so funny?" Severus asked, apparently having missed a joke somewhere.

Lily quickly got her laughter under control before letting him in on it. "Y-you haven't written anything to Ms. Black all summer." She managed before giggling cutely again.

For his part, Severus colored in embarrassment that Lily figured it out so quickly, and on the first try. "Yeah, yeah I forgot, laugh it up. At least I'm resolving it now." He huffed.

He couldn't tell that the blush adorning Lily's face was less because of her laughing fit, but because she'd also pieced together that if he hadn't been writing to Narcissa Black, then that meant _she_ was the only friend he'd been talking to and spending time with this summer. It gave her a warm feeling like dozens of pixies in her stomach flittering about.

"Might as well take this one. He seems agreeable." Only to hear an indignant hoot and see the owl in question puff up its chest.

" _She_ Severus. _She's_ a beautiful owl." Lily said, calming the bird down and stroking its feathers again.

"Of course she is." Severus mumbled in agreement.

They picked up the owl and a cage for her and took them both to the front to buy her.

Once they reached the front counter and set the owl and cage down to buy them, Lily touched her friends shoulder to get his attention.

"So what are you going to name her?" She asked.

Severus rolled his head from side to side, then jokingly said, "How about Minerva McGonagowl?"

He was met with a screech of vehement denial from the owl as she tried to bite the fingers on his hand that reaching out to pet her, only to meet empty air as his hand jerked back thanks to his improved reaction time.

Lily slapped his shoulder repeatedly while chastising him. "Severus you prat! That's not nice, what if Professor McGonagall found out?"

"I don't know, I thought she'd be flattered." He chuckled as he fended off his friend. "Alright, alright fine. No more owl puns for names. Which is too bad... because I think Owlivia would have been great." He said, causing Lily to renew her hitting his shoulder and the owl in question to glare menacingly at him.

They eventually settled down and completed the transaction with the bemused shopkeeper. Once they left, the young witch and wizard settled in on an outside table at Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop for lunch. While ice cream couldn't be considered a real lunch, to Lily they were still kids, and it's not like they had ice cream every day. And in Severus' case, it was one of the benefits to having lived as an adult in his previous life, being able to eat what he wanted, when he wanted. Little things like that made life more enjoyable.

In between bites of ice cream, they would throw out names back and forth to see if the owl would take to any of them. So far all they knew was that the owl didn't approve of any Disney princess names, nor any 'common' human names.

Sighing in exasperation, Severus tried another track. "What about something cool since you don't seem to like 'girly' names? How about Talon?"

The owl looked at him piercingly for a moment, then another, and then finally bobbed her head up and down and hooting in agreement.

Severus's forehead 'thunked' into the table in resignation. "Great. My owl's a tomboy."

Now it made sense why she didn't want to be named after a princess or a flower.

Lily patted his back consolingly with one hand while finishing her ice cream with the other.

After they finished lunch they continued shopping. Severus let her run around and buy a few things while making notes of a few items out of her price range that she'd taken an interest in. He'd be sure to come back later, or get a mail order form so he could have her next birthday and Christmas presents ready to go. He wasn't the type to put up with last minute shopping nonsense for those occasions.

The last stop for them was the Apothecary. Once inside, Lily marveled at how nice the store was. The prices might have been a bit more expensive, but there was a greater variety than what was available at Slug and Jiggers.

While Lily was busy browsing the shelves, Severus had gone up to the counter to place an order. This was the other major difference in this potions shop, compared to others. They would order rare ingredients for customers as needed if they didn't have something in stock.

Sadly he didn't have enough for Re'em blood yet. He wanted to use that for the same empowerment ritual that Salazar Slytherin himself went through. Severus didn't know how, or why he'd need super strength. But he wanted it anyway.

What he was here for today, was to put in an order for dragon's blood. But not just any variety of dragon. A Hungarian Horntail. Dragon's blood is an ingredient called for in many potions, but those usually aren't breed specific, meaning you could use any type of dragon.

But Severus would only settle for the best. And while each dragon had something different that set it apart from their sub species, Chinese Fireball for their breath, Ukrainian Ironbelly for defense; the Horntail was the most magically powerful, and dangerous of any breed.

From the research notes of the Founders, he'd gathered that using such a powerful magical creature would provide a huge boost to everything all at once. Severus would be immune to nearly any kind of fire with Fiendfyre being the exception. His physical strength should also rise a noticeable level. But the real treasure was in a dragon's innate magic resistance.

But dragons _are_ magic, and because of that, they will shrug off most offensive spells below an advanced level.

Sure, their hide confers much of their protection, that's why so many things are made from it, such as gloves for safety that all students are required to have for certain classes. 'They pretty much raise dragons like livestock'. Severus mentally snorted at his line of thinking. In fact, he was sure that the only reason they didn't dose them to the gills with draught of the living death in order to harvest renewable parts from dragons, such as blood, scales, and teeth; was for some stupid reason like it being 'inhumane' or some such moral nonsense.

The last wonderful side effect of using dragon's blood will be a boost to his own magic's growth. A wizard or witch's magic grows as they age and mature, an increase to his base magic at his current age will provide an exponential increase for the years to come. A lot like compound interest actually, and Severus preferred to work smarter, not harder.

Some people like Voldemort would use dark, sacrificial rituals, often at the expense of human lives, for just a small increase in power. The worst part was that most of those could only be used once, or in some cases, couldn't be used at all if other rituals had already been done. None of that was even taking into account all of the complicated and tedious requirements of some of them, such as the phase of the moon and stars (turns out astrology does have an impact), or how some have vague interpretations of what qualifies as an integral component, like when Voldemort needed 'blood of the enemy'.

And speaking of; interpretations are actually a _huge_ part of almost every ritual. Take the one he did the other day for example. He had to have a clear image in his mind of what he wanted to take away from the cat, and keep a razor focus on it. If Severus wanted it, during the ritual, he could have given himself cat ears and a tail, or the senses of a cat like having slits instead of pupils that allow him to see better in the dark. All he wanted was the grace and reflexes, and that's all he got thankfully.

Severus was told the expected date of delivery for his order and thanked the clerk. It didn't actually matter when it came in for him. It would keep for a few years under stasis charms, but he had plans to use it on this year's Samhain.

On the way out, Lily picked up her own order form to look over when she got home. Severus had a feeling the red head would be up all night making lists of what ingredients are used for which potions and how much they cost.

The younger years of Hogwarts students only bought basic and plentiful ingredients that are used in most potions while they learned the proper techniques for preparation and safety. The mid to later year students got a few more for complicated potions, but by and large, most of the rare or delicate ingredients were provided by Professor Slughorn for his O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. classes.

Lily, much like Severus, was far too smart to be constrained by what was taught in the average class, and so both looked to self-study in this particular subject. Although while Lily was a natural genius, Severus had to force himself to learn more of the art of potion brewing. The original Severus had prodigious instinct when it came to potions, and thankfully that transferred over. And while he had been close to O.W.L. level before even starting Hogwarts in this branch, the new Severus wanted to accelerate the pace so he could get to the good stuff.

The two finished their shopping trip on a high note, and Lily was ready to face the knight bus this time now that she knew what to expect.

Once they were dropped off and Severus was walking Lily home, she asked him if he wanted to stay for dinner.

He politely declined. It was still early afternoon and he was more mentally drained from his trip with Lily than when he goes on a research and plotting binge.

The raven haired boy walked home with Talon in her cage in his arms. "Today was a good day."

Talon hooted in agreement.

Severus planned to take the rest of the evening off, he'd put off and write a response back to Narcissa in the morning.

 **A/N: Fun fact, the Knight Bus was first implemented in 1865. Also, when I started this story, I really stressed over how much to make the magical currency worth compared to its mundane counterpart. I really wish I'd just picked arbitrary numbers now. I had to go back and double check to make sure I was being consistent. But, on a happy accident, the bus trip ended up being under two pounds per person. Which I think is right for the time period... Pretty sure... I don't feel like looking it up.**

 **A/N2: I know that Andromeda was supposed to be the middle sister, not the eldest. But I've already tweaked a few people's ages for this story a little bit to make it all fit. For this story, Andromeda graduated the year before Severus started Hogwarts, and immediately eloped with Ted Tonks.**

 **A/N3: I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. It sat at like 6,500 words for a week before I finally finished it today. Some readers whom I'm talking to have suggested I shorten the chapter lengths to around half what they normally are so I can update more often. I like that idea and I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks too. Are these chapters too long, just right, or not long enough? Let me know. As always, thank you all for reading. See you next time.**

 **A/N4: I don't know why, but when I posted this chapter _everything_ was in italics. That was kind of annoying. I had to highlight and un-italics everything, then meticulously go through and reapply it where it belonged.**

 **A/N5: Getting real tired of having to put more author notes post updating. But I logged in today to find that for some reason reviews aren't showing up. I've looked at some of the forums and boards, and most are along the lines of 'It's just a glitch that happens, wait it out and eventually they'll show up'. Luckily I'm getting email notifications of them so I am reading them. Thank you.**


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